


Sheets of Paper

by BadWriter85



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: A happier life, Alternate Universe, Bisexual Male Character, Eventual Romance, Homophobia, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Might get more explicit later on, Self-Harm, Teen Romance, Universe-Swapping, forgive my writing I'm practicing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-05-14 23:02:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 20
Words: 91,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14778950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadWriter85/pseuds/BadWriter85
Summary: Warren has always had few problems in his life (unless you count trying to ask out Max Caufield) but one day he comes across a horrific event  he wishes he never walked in on.If this isn't bad enough, suddenly his entire world changes and he isn't sure who his friends even are anymore and a new relationship with a certain someone leaves him particularly confused...





	1. The Tear

“Mr Graham, your answer please.”

  
Warren’s head suddenly snaps up, and finds himself met with Miss Grant’s steely gaze. Fuck, of all the times for his mind to wander, why did he choose just now? What had the question even been?

  
“Well?”

  
Miss Grant was now drumming her fingers against her desk, impatience now very much evident in her features. After seven years of perfect chemistry grades, he knew she thought better of him than to not pay attention in class. Warren racked his brains for a reasonable answer to a question he didn’t know. What was his dad’s saying? When in doubt just say…

  
“Ten…?” he answers hesitantly, praying it wouldn’t be too stupid a guess.

  
Miss Grant just gives him a smile and turns back to the board, drawing up another electron configuration diagram. Had that really worked?? Warren noted his dad might have a point about ten being the magic number.

  
He once again starts taking notes, trying to not let his mind wander back to Max and his lack of progress with her. Seriously, he’d been in love with her ever since he’d met her that first day of the school year, when he had helped her out with some locker trouble (the Vortex club’s handiwork no doubt). Her kind, beautiful face, cute freckles and shy demeanour were only the catalysts of his crush and getting to know her these last few months had not helped things. He had found out she was an awesome photographer, played guitar and was even surprisingly funny, in a sarcastic, hipster kind-of way. He couldn’t understand why anyone as talented and cool as her would choose to hang out with a self-proclaimed nerd like him, but it had eventually worked out in the sense that they were now pretty good friends.

  
But as a girlfriend...?

  
He’d never seen her show any interest in any of the other guys at school, but then her personality wasn’t naturally flirty to begin with. Besides, she probably couldn’t see the point of pursuing a relationship the last year of high school.

  
Maybe if he took things slowly… he fingered the tickets he had in his pocket for the drive-thru ape movie. Was a drive-thru movie too much? If she really did find the idea of dating him repulsive could this ruin all the good feeling between them?

  
The shrill ring of the bell interrupted his thoughts and he inwardly cursed.

  
So much for paying attention in class.

  
As he was packing up his things, Brooke came over to chat about their next assignment and asked if he’d like to check out her drone at lunchtime. He agreed to the drone display, as he was genuinely interested in the technology, even if he found Brooke a little grating sometimes. She could be very nice when she felt like it but if he ever cancelled one study session, even for a good reason, she could hold a grudge for weeks on end. If he cancelled it for a female friend, it could be as much as a month.

  
He said goodbye to Brooke as he headed off towards his own locker at the end of the hall. Opening it, he took out the photo Max had given him for his birthday last fall. It was a photo of the photoelectric effect he did in October and while it was her usual selfie effort, she’d managed to frame it so that the light beams were gloriously centre stage and both their faces were lit up with a warm, rich glow. Max had been in mid-laugh when she took the photo and Warren had been grinning at her, fondness embarrassingly obvious in his face. Warren was surprised that had Max kept it but he was very pleased with the present. It had seemed like the first sign that she did think of him as a real friend, not just pity that he mistook for friendship, like had happened so many other times in the past.

  
Looking at the photo he held in his hands, he resolved that by the end of today, he’d ask Max to the movies. If she said no, that was fine, he liked being her friend. If she was a jerk about, she wasn’t a friend he’d like to have anyway. Besides, last year of school, got to start taking risks at some point right?

  
Nodding at his own logic, Warren started walking towards his dorm room. He didn’t have another class until two, so he may as well chill out for a bit till then, maybe do more work on that circuit breaker he was building.

  
Looking ahead of him he suddenly saw a slight figure with a brown mop of hair he immediately recognised as Max from the back. She seemed lost in thought, tapping her fingers absentmindedly to whatever music was playing on her ipod. Warren slowed his pace considering his options.

  
Should he ask her now? Is this the right time? Maybe she doesn’t feel like talking right now…?

  
His questions were answered when Max turned into a girl’s bathroom. 'Yeah', he thinks to himself. 'Never wait for someone outside a bathroom, always looks creepy'. He carried on walking but just as he was about to turn the corner he looked back and saw a strange sight…

  
Nathan Prescott was also walking down the hallway, head down and… was he muttering to himself? Nathan was a weird dude but talking to himself still seemed a bit out of character. He was a mental case in the violent sense, not the hallucinogenic one. He could still remember the first bloody nose Nathan had given him after he had tried to save Daniel from one of the Vortex Club’s more messed up pranks. Safe to say, not the best first impression.

  
What he saw next was even more surprising. Nathan had… gone into the girl’s bathroom? Had he made a mistake or…?

  
Oh God, Max.

  
Wait, why would he hurt Max? Had they even ever had a conversation before?

  
Warren’s panicked thoughts were soon interrupted when the next odd sight appeared: a punky looking girl, with bright blue hair (clearly against the school dress code) and a face that said she was ready to kill a muthafucka (with that exact spelling). She too entered the bathroom, after quickly looking both ways and evidently not spotting Warren half-hidden around the corner (or maybe she just didn’t care about him, hard to tell).

  
Warren starts slowly walking back down along the hallway, listening in for the usual shrieks that accompany a boy bursting into the girl’s bathroom, but none came. As he got closer to the door howver, he thought he heard… were they arguing? That wasn’t Max’s voice though, was it the other girl…?

  
A loud sudden bang makes Warren leap backwards. He stares at the bathroom door, where the sound had emitted from. He feels his blood run cold...…

  
_There was only silence…_

  
That was a lie, where did that voice come from? Warren felt sick as memories of a gunshot range his uncle had dragged him too when he was younger came flooding back. That noise… it couldn’t be…

  
_Why am I here? There’s no one here…_

  
He goes in. The girls on the ground, there’s so much blood. Max is screaming. Nathan is standing, shaking, holding his face in his hands…

  
_Nothing has happened. So why do I feel like this?_

  
The red’s gone everywhere now. His entire field of vision is crimson. He smells only blood.

  
_Where is the smell coming from? Where’s the blood? Why can’t I see? There’s the sound of… is that my heartbeat? But it’s so loud, so violent…_

  
Everything around him begins to warp. Their bodies stretch, the jaws open wider, the eyes become huge. They look like monsters.

  
The crimson darkens…

_Am I freezing or burning? Why can’t I see???_

  
All that’s left is blackness. He feels himself drift away, he can't fight it anymore...

                                                                                                                 * **

 

  
“Mr Graham, your answer please.”

  
Warren looked on dumbly at Miss Grant’s expectant face. He heard a few snickers from his classmates as an awkward silence began to develop but right now he couldn’t care less.

  
Someone was just shot… weren’t they?

  
He wouldn’t just go straight back to class after seeing that would he?

  
Wait, he had Chemistry this morning, why was he in this classroom again? Why were the same slides up on the board? Had he dreamed that entire morning up?

  
What was that voice?

Why did he feel like throwing up?

  
Miss Grant was once again tapping her fingers, but a little furrow between her brows indicated to Warren that she was a feeling a little concerned about him, and hey, if Warren looked as bad as he felt right now, he couldn’t blame her.

  
The clock behind Miss Grant read 9.50am, and if it was on the right time, it should be second period.

  
The period he just had…

  
Warren was inwardly freaking out about whatever had just happened but, dream or not, he wasn’t going to help himself by acting crazy. He would just… go along with everything for now.

  
He swallowed and tried to answer Miss Grant’s question.

  
“T-Ten?”

  
Miss Grant raised an eyebrow.

  
“You say there are ten orbital electrons in a p shell?”

  
“Oh, uh, sorry, I meant six. I misheard.”

  
Miss Grant looked like she wanted to say something but instead she turned back towards her slides, continuing the lesson. Miss Grant was known to always be happy for students to come to her one-on-one about their personal problems but was also courteous enough not to probe students about it in front of rest of their peers, something Warren was extremely grateful for right now.

  
While Miss Grant had her back to the class Warren took out his phone and pressed the home button. Yep, the date was still the same on the home screen and the time matched that shown on the classroom clock. He put in his usual passcode to check if he’d gotten any weird messages from Max, but he must’ve put the code in wrong since he remained locked out. He tried again. And again. By the sixth time he was quietly cursing to himself. Had he really changed his passcode since the last time he used his phone?  
Resolving to solve that trouble later, he checked his lock screen again and something suddenly jumped out at him. His wallpaper was still a Fullmetal Alchemist poster, but the poses were slightly different and Winry was now also alongside the Elric brothers.

  
Okay, so maybe… he changed his passcode and wallpaper before class for some reason without remembering anything about it, began sleeping in class, consequently had a disturbing nightmare about a shooting involving two fellow students and woke up without Miss Grant noticing him nodding off…?

  
Yeah, he wasn’t convincing himself either. If it had been a dream, it had felt pretty damn real. His could still feel his heart racing heart was still racing from the sound of the gunshot, he could still see himself looking down at the girl’s still body, the red stain on her t-shirt growing rapidly larger…

  
Warren shook himself, as a cold nervous sweat ran down his back. A sudden tiredness and  need to vomit welled up inside of him, but he tried to swallow both down.

  
Making sure Miss Grant wasn’t looking, he looked down at his phone again. Okay, so he could see his most recent messages from the home screen at the very least. He could check if Max had messaged, maybe she was freaking out just as much as him…

  
The results were disappointing: there were two messages from his mum about visiting over summer and three from a… Jack Skellington? Who the hell was…

  
This thought was interrupted as the phone suddenly disappeared from his hands and he looked up to see Miss Grant staring him down, phone in hand and a malevolent glint in her usually friendly eyes.

  
“Bad luck getting caught the last minute of class Mr Graham,” Miss Grant said frostily, the sound of the bell tolling to further emphasise the point. “Please wait here, everyone else can leave.”

  
The rest of the students began to spill out of the classroom, some looking back at Warren with curiosity, others with sympathetic smiles. A few were smirking, clearly amused that the teacher’s pet had finally got into trouble. Warren just tried to ignore them all by pretending to find the graffiti on his desk suddenly fascinating. If there was anything he really hated, it was being the centre of attention.

  
When everyone had finally left, Miss Grant leaned against her desk and sighed in a way that seemed to indicate she was going to enjoy this about as much as he was. The anger she had showed in class seemed to have mostly dissipated as she gave him a stern but fair gaze.

  
“Warren, I need you to explain something to me.”, she said, speaking her words slowly and clearly, like she was worried he'd have trouble understanding. “Why did you feel the need to use your phone during my lesson?”

  
It was now Warren’s turn to sigh. If he’d been feeling better, he might’ve been able to think up a good excuse but now he just felt drained, like he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in over a fortnight. All he felt like doing was giving short answers, even if it did get him into more trouble.

“Sorry Miss Grant, I don’t have any excuse. I was just trying to check my messages.”

  
Miss Grant pursed her lips but looked like she inwardly decided not to press any further. She reached down and pulled a packet of notes out of her drawer.

  
“Well I’m sorry then Warren, but I have no choice but to take your phone off you until the end of the day and you will serve detention tomorrow helping to clean the Chemistry Lab.” She wrote down his name on a slip and passed it to him.

  
Warren looked down at the slip of paper and thought how not along ago, he would’ve thought this was the worst thing that could’ve ever happened to him today. Now it just seemed kind of petty compared to all the other ugly thoughts running through his head right now.

  
Miss Grant gave him a steady gaze as she watched him put the slip into his bag. She once again seemed to have an inner struggle in her mind but her empathetic side seemed to win out this time.

  
“Warren,”, she said quietly, leaning over a tiny fraction. “Is everything alright just now?”

  
Warren swallowed, trying to stand up straighter and not look too weak. He gave an affirmative nod, but Miss Grant didn’t seem too satisfied with the minimal response.

  
“It’s just that you started to look… rather upset just after I called on you in class, it was very sudden. And you not paying attention in class is a new one. Is there anything you want to talk about?”

  
Warren shook his head, turning his face away, realising too late it would look like he was trying to hide tears. Miss Grant’s whole presence seemed to soften as she uncrossed her arms and stepped away from her desk.

  
“Okay, don’t worry about it. Just know though my door and the school nurses’ door are always open if you need anything. And we promise it’ll be completely confidential, whatever you need to say. I know how scary it can be at your age to be … honest with people but just so you know, in this day and age, there’s no shame in struggling with… certain problems.”

  
Warren frowned. Was he going crazy or did Miss Grant implying something? Her face was unreadable right now, back in teacher-mode, but Warren swore she’d put a bit of a strange emphasis on ‘certain problems’. Did she think he was taking drugs? Surely, she knew him better than that?

  
Whatever, Warren had bigger things to deal with, so he simply nodded and turned to leave the room, trying not to look back at Miss Grant and her worried eyes. As he walked into the school hallway, he studied his surroundings. Everything still looked pretty much the same as before except some of the groups of people hanging around the lockers were different and there were some new posters on the walls for clubs he didn’t even know Blackwell had (Robot club, Quiz Club, Hotdog Guy Club??), as well as some new graffiti on the wall. Warren looked closer at one such masterpiece that read in childish handwriting: _Rachel Amber was a slut._

  
Warren frowned: the most disturbing part of that was the word “was”. The fact that someone assumed this missing girl was dead and would then still try to bully her was immensely disturbing to Warren: like, what was even the point? To make her cry from beyond the grave?

  
Warren shook himself and tried to get back on the task at hand: to go and check on the girl’s bathroom to prove what he’d seen earlier wasn’t just a messed-up hallucination he’d had during Chemistry. Sure, Warren liked to think of himself as a man of science and he didn’t generally believe in things like premonitions but with the alternative being him showing signs of mental instability… yeah, he’d take fortune readings any day.

  
He hurried down the hallway, trying to look out for the figures of Max, Nathan or the blue-haired girl from earlier. When he finally reached the bathroom door, he stood on the other side of the hallway and waited.

  
And waited.

  
After another fifteen minutes of waiting, still no one entered the bathroom. Warren didn’t exactly feel disappointed, but he still couldn’t kick the feeling that something was… meant to happen? Like a strange version of deja-vu, except for something that never happened in the first place.

  
Warren looked at the dark wooden door in front him, and felt his breathing hitch. As sure as he was there wouldn’t be anything to see behind there, he knew if he didn’t check it would drive him crazy for the rest of the day.

  
Trying to get his breathing back to normal, Warren checked there was no one around to report him for going into the wrong-gendered bathroom and slowly walked over. He pressed his hand against the door panel, taking a deep breath.

  
‘Quit being a coward, there won’t be anything there.”, Warren told himself as once again a wave of nausea flowed through him. ‘Just open it.’

  
The door was swung open and Warren was met with… well, nothing.

  
Just a bathroom that looked almost identical to the boy’s one, minus the urinals and noticeably less liquid on the floor. He glanced down at the floor where the girl had been lying, over at the sink where Nathan had stood with a gun by his feet and then over towards the stalls where Max had been, her scream still resonating in his ears.

  
Now though? Nothing.

  
There was only silence…

  
Warren shivered as the memory of the voice came back to him. What had that been? It kind of sounded like his own inner monologue, yet somehow separate from him. Was that just something that happened during dreams sometimes, omnipresent voices asking why everything smelt like blood? Warren wouldn’t know, he hadn’t dreamt since he was a very young child.

  
The fluorescent lights flickered as he shut the door behind him, their luminous glow making his face look even more sickly pale than it was as he looks at himself in a slightly cracked mirror. Warren studies his face carefully- okay, so he didn’t look as tired as he felt, that was good, no dark circles under the eyes. Maybe it was just his imagination but maybe he was just a little thinner around the face, a more obvious jawline maybe? Warren began to scratch the back of his head then immediately gasped; he turned his head to check and yes, his hair had been cut a lot shorter at the back, being no longer a ‘semi-mullet’ as his mother would sometimes call it.

  
‘Okay Warren, relax buddy,’ Warren told himself, as he raked his hands through his new hairstyle. “So, you somehow managed to change stuff on your phone, get a haircut and… Warren frowned down at what he was wearing. ‘And apparently change into a new set of clothes, all without remembering any of it, but that’s fine. Seeing things and hearing voices in your head though? Maybe not so good.’

  
Warren tried to think about this all logically, Okay, so he’d had a weird morning, but you know what? No-one had died and even if he was going nuts, who cared? He’d just carry on with his life and if he started having any other weird visions he’d tell a doctor and they’d pump him with the right drugs to make the rest of his life bearable, or at the very least liveable.

  
While this thought wasn’t exactly comforting to Warren, he knew he’d have to get out of the girl’s bathroom at some point before anyone else came in. The last thing he needed  was to be labelled a pervert or, even worse, get suspended. As Warren walked out, he couldn’t help noticing some more graffiti just to the side of the door he hadn’t noticed before. He shivered as he read the disturbing message, the writing slanted and still slightly wet looking:

  
‘HOW MANY OF US HAVE TO DIE BEFORE YOU’RE SATISFIED?’

  
Warren hurried out, having enough of that creepy room and its unnatural lighting. He headed towards the boy’s dormitory, humming to himself as he did so, trying to block out the panicky voices in his head. All he wanted right now was to be back in his room and just play some mindless videogames until he started to feel normal again.

  
Warren noticed that the drawing on his whiteboard slab was no longer a periodic table but that didn’t surprise him too much; after all people were always drawing on each other’s slabs and since Warren was often singled out by idiots like Logan as a ‘beta-male’, his was often scribbled with less than savoury images.

  
It did seem a bit odd someone would draw a picture of a Chicago football team logo on his slab since Warren had absolutely no interest in sport, but he figured it must be the season for it or something. He reached into his pocket for his keys (thankfully still there despite the change of clothes) and put them into the lock. Odd that they seemed to be fitting a little strange today…

  
Warren tried turning the lock, but it wouldn’t budge. He then tried turning them the other way. After a minute of struggle, he became aware of a distinctly taller, broader figure standing behind him.

  
“What the hell are you doing? You trying to get into my room?”

  
Warren whipped around to find himself met with Zachery Riggins, quarterback and infamous a-hole. He is scowling at Warren, hands bawled in fists. Warren freezes in panic- while Zachary wasn’t unhinged like Nathan, he was known to find shoving people in lockers hilarious, so he wasn’t exactly above doing physical assault. Unable to speak, Warren glances down at his keys. Wait, why were they different looking and was that…a five scrawled on them in red ink?

  
“WELL?”

  
Zachery had closed the distance between them now, his face only inches away from Warren’s. Warren could see from his expression that, while annoyed, he was immensely enjoying intimidating Warren. Warren’s mouth was dry, but he did his best to give a coherent response.

  
“Uhhh… s-sorry I’ve got the wrong room. I wasn’t looking, I’ll just go now…”, Warren babbled, wincing at his own patheticness. Why did he have to stutter on the s?  
Zachery was still scowling, but he backed off a little bit.

  
“Just get out of here weeb.”

  
While Warren didn’t really care for that comment, he was glad Zachery was choosing to just let him go. Warren could stand up for himself in a fight, but it was usually at the cost of his nose and his doctor had said he should really stop breaking it. Warren walked away from what was supposedly Zach’s dorm room at a reasonable pace and then immediately ran for the boy’s shower room as soon as he turned the corner.

  
The boy’s shower room was nearly always abandoned after nine o’clock, giving the perfect place for Warren to put his head in his hands and silently scream. He’d had enough of this day and it wasn’t even noon yet. He’d been sure that this was his dorm room, he’d been sure he had Chemistry twice this morning, he’d been sure he saw a murder happen…

  
Warren once again took the keys out of his pocket and had a better look at them. Same keychain, the little Pikachu he’d got from dad when he was seven but yeah, the actual key was different. The five scrawled on in permeant marker was plain to see, in a shade of red that now made Warren feel queasy.

  
Was he really living in Room Five now? One of the double rooms? But Warren didn’t have a roommate…

  
Deciding since, hey, this day couldn’t get any weirder, Warren started heading towards the front of the boy’s dormitories, where he was pretty sure Room Five resigned. It was in one of the more rowdier areas of the dorm, with bits of toilet paper and drink bottles littering the floor and loud music blaring from all directions. Warren felt very awkward as he made his way past a mass of familiar faces, waiting for someone to ask why he was here, but no one did.

  
Warren put his key into the lock of the door that had a number plate with a peeling number five stuck to it: the key moved in smoothly. He turned it in the lock and a satisfying clicking noise could be heard from inside. Warren steadies himself before he opens the door and enters.

  
While Warren didn’t remember switching rooms, just one quick look told him that not only did he live here, he must’ve lived there for a while. His Andromeda Galaxy sheets were on one of the two beds (unmade of course), his vast collection of movies and books stacked in a huge pile on a shelf by the bed, a Chemistry set was laid out on the desk nearest his bed and in a dirty laundry pile, he spotted several recognisable t-shirts and boxers. When he did a bit of closer inspecting however, he noticed there were now some missing DVDs from his movie collections, replaced with some obscure foreign films that he couldn’t even translate the titles of. There were also a lot of brochures about CERN scattered on the floor, posters for every single Star Wars film (excluding the prequels) pinned on one wall and a whole lot of other stuff he didn’t remember having but seemed like the kind of stuff he’d want.

  
Warren glanced towards the other side of the room where presumably his roommate slept. He tried to think who it could be, but no obvious candidates came to mind since while he was on good terms with a lot of the guys in the science club, he didn’t have many close male friends. Besides, judging by the way his roommate had decorated his side of the room, he was more likely an artsy type than a science-y type.

  
The bed opposite his had sheets with a sketchy black and white design and was impeccably made, all the corners pressed in tightly. The number of books this guy possessed was kind of ridiculous, with huge piles of them covering the entirety of the floor, save for Warren’s side of the room and a little pathway to the bed. His entire wall was covered in photos, all black and white and quite professional looking.

  
‘One of Jefferson’s students no doubt.’, Warren thought as he went up to get a closer look. He wasn’t exactly an expert in photography, but he’d hanged out with Max enough to know that these were very good. Whoever took them had an excellent grasp of lighting and how to tell a story with just one frame: there was an ambulance driver taking a cigarette break by the beach, an old man feeding waffles to a stray dog, a stationary Ferris wheel absolutely infested with seagulls.

  
As he kept looking though Warren couldn’t help noticing some of the pictures had quite sinister overtones: he spotted at least a dozen pictures that looked like they were taken in the local graveyard, there were pictures of smashed up cars that looked like they’d died some pretty horrific deaths and… wait, was that a coffin?

  
Warren put his face right up to the picture that caught his attention to confirm that yes, his roommate had taken a picture of a coffin, at someone’s funeral no less judging by the crowds of people in mourning attire huddled around the box. While it was hard to tell the weather without any colour, the umbrella’s and slight mist seemed to imply it was raining pretty hard. Warren shivered, why was everything coming back to death today? And more to the point, who on Earth takes a photo of someone’s funeral and pins it up on their wall? Whoever his roommate was, he must be a real freak.

  
Not even bothering to take his shoes off, Warren collapsed onto what he assumed was now his bed, eyes closed and body limp. He just needed to not think for ten minutes, maybe then his mind would clear up and would fill in all of the blanks he seemed to be forgetting.

  
Sudden amnesia combined with hallucinations though? It seemed pretty unlikely, he’d always thought of himself as pretty level-headed and he couldn’t think of any particular stress in his life (well, unless you count girl troubles) that would cause his mind to snap.

  
A thought had crossed his mind when he noticed the different hair and clothes but… no, it couldn’t be. That was just his science-fiction obsessed imagination coming into play.  
Still, the phrase kept murmuring in his mind, low and distinct:

  
_Parallel universe, parallel universe, parallel universe…_

  
Warren opened his eyes, looking over his new room again, watching the sun beams emerging from the window. The room still felt quite alien yet… somehow a little familiar? If the parallel universe theory was true, maybe that was because while his mind wasn’t used to his surroundings, maybe his body was? Like a mind-swap with this universe’s Warren?

  
Warren spent about five minutes trying to log into his laptop to try and see if he could confirm his theory by checking his online profiles but once again, his password seemed to have changed. He was just about to throw his laptop in frustration when he heard someone jangling what sounded like keys outside the door.  
Warren snapped his laptop shut, feeling weirdly nervous. What was there to be nervous about? This was clearly his roommate, there would be nothing unusual to him about Warren sitting in his own room on his own bed.

  
The door opened, and Warren had to stifle a gasp.

  
If there was anything that would’ve confirmed that he was in a parallel universe, it was seeing this version of Nathan Prescott.

  
All the differences between this Nathan and one he knew back home were numerous but subtle, the most drastic change being the clothes. The Nathan he knew wore the same red jacket every day with expensive-looking black jeans. This Nathan only wore a thin black t-shirt that showed off his slightly sunburnt arms and denim jeans that hung loosely from his slender legs. The black t-shirt had a picture of a door on it that looked suspiciously like the one from the opening of the Twilight Zone, but that might just be Warren’s pop culture knowledge overworking itself. While this Nathan is still on the skinnier side for a guy, Warren notices that he seems to fill out his clothes just a bit better, like he’s gained some weight and the dark circles under his eyes are now much less severe.

  
This version of Nathan blinks at Warren from the doorway like he’s surprised to see him here, but not in a hostile way like Zachery. Warren tries not to stare too much but it’s so weird seeing Nathan without a sneer on his face. This Nathan’s expression is soft, wide eyes and mouth slightly open like he’s about to say something but hasn’t quite thought of what words to use yet. Warren can’t help thinking he looks kind of… scared? Shy? Those were words he’d never thought he’d use to describe Nathan Prescott.

  
This Nathan runs a hand through his hair that is way more wavy and unkempt than Warren is used to. He smiles but Warren couldn’t help thinking it looked a little forced.

  
“Hey, I didn’t know you came back here. You uh… weren’t in the parking lot today.”

  
Warren just continued to blink at him. Even Nathan’s voice sounds a little different, no longer a whiny, harsh timbre but maybe that’s because he isn’t taunting him for once. What was that about the parking lot? The only reason Nathan in his world would want to meet him a parking lot would be to take out his fists on him. It took a few more seconds before Warren was even able to attempt a reply.

  
“Oh right, sorry. I guess I forgot we were meeting today?” Warren said, trying to sound as casual as he could while having an internal meltdown.

  
Other-Nathan gives him a strange look, like he was confused with Warren’s answer.

  
“You… never mind, it’s fine. It’s just that I’ve been trying to message you all morning and you haven’t replied. I thought that you might still be…avoiding me?”

  
Nathan gives Warren a hard look like he was expecting an answer but all Warren could think was he had a lot of reasons he’d avoid Nathan Prescott but he couldn’t think of a good one for this universe.

  
Nathan steps closer and his voice becomes tighter, like he’s trying to force his words through a sore throat:

  
“If you’re still upset with me I understand, I deserve it, but I miss you and it sucks not talking to you and you can yell at me if you want but…”

  
Nathans hurried flow of words are brought to an abrupt stop as he gulps and looks straight into Warren’s eyes in a way that makes his pulse quicken. Nathan once again waits for Warren’s response.

  
Warren can only gape. Geez, not only had he dropped into a parallel universe where apparently him and Nathan Prescott shared a room but apparently, they were also friends who’d recently had a falling out. How was he supposed to know if this universe’s Warren was still upset with Nathan or not, what had even happened?

  
When Warren still doesn’t say anything, other-Nathan begins to bite down on his lip and Warren tries to fight down another gasp since it’s such an unlike-Nathan thing to do. Nathan lowers his head like he’s trying to hide tears, which only baffles Warren even further.

  
_‘Wow.’_ , Warren thinks as he looks at the boy who, until a few minutes ago, he would’ve never expected to see in this kind of state. _‘This universe’s Nathan must be pretty sensitive. What guy friends cry in front of each other like this, especially over a little fight?’_

  
_“_ Hey,” Warren says as calmly as he can manage, lowering his head so he can try and look Nathan in the eye. “Look, it’s fine, I’m not mad anymore. I haven’t been answering messages because Miss Grant took my phone off me in class so don’t worry about it… we’re good.”

  
Warren smiles at Nathan and puts his hand on his shoulder in a way that he hoped was normal for friends to do. Nathan just continues to look confused, his slightly watery eyes blinking rapidly.

  
“You’re... not mad? But I thought…”

  
“It’s fine buddy!” Warren says as cheerily as he can manage, giving Nathan a friendly punch on the shoulder (probably a bit too hard judging by the look on Nathan’s face). “All’s forgiven and errr… I’d better start getting ready for Algebra class! See ya!”

  
Warren turns away from Nathan and starts shoving random books in his backpack, not even bothering to check if his timetable had also changed in this universe, he just wants to be out of this room and away from a weird, emotional, clingy Nathan Prescott.

  
“You’re acting weird…”

Warren yelps slightly as he turns to find Nathan only inches from him now, hand in his pockets, eyes regarding him with what looked like… concern?

  
Warren tries to even out his breathing and says slowly: “Nathan buddy, I’m fine, I just had a bad time in Chemistry. I’ll be good in a bit.”

  
He had hoped Nathan would back off a bit but if anything, he leaned in closer, he was even closer than Zachery had been now.

  
“Stop calling me that, you know I hate it.”, Nathan murmured, almost pouting.

  
“W-What do you mean?” Warren stuttered, uncomfortable with how close Nathan’s face was to his now. He could practically count the faint freckles on the bridge of his nose.

  
“Buddy. You said you’d stop calling me that.” Nathan was trying to look annoyed, but a faint smile was beginning to grow on his face, and his voice sounded almost fond.

  
Warren’s palms were sweating, he was hardly ever this close to someone and he didn’t really like it.

  
“Well uh… what should I call you?”

  
Instead of answering the question, Nathan simply smiled and leaned his head forward, closing any distance left between them.

  
It took a few seconds for Warren to comprehend that he had Nathan Prescott’s mouth pressed against his own and another few seconds to realise that Nathan was kissing him, slowly but passionately, eyes closed, arms wrapped closely round Warren's waist.

  
Warren just stood there stiffly in shock as Nathan’s slightly wet lips move against his own, not sure if he was about to gag or scream into Nathan’s mouth. It wasn’t so much the fact it was a guy (only a few soft stray hairs on Nathan’s chin distinguished it from any female kisses he’d had) but the fact it was Nathan Prescott, him and his friend’s tormentor, the guy who found joy in people’s suffering and loved everyone knowing how much better he was than them because of who his dad was.

  
The guy who shot that girl in the bathroom…

  
When Warren was finally able to move, he brought his hands up to Nathan’s chest and shoved him away. Hard.

  
Nathan went back several feet, falling against a dresser, groaning in pain as he did so. His eyes had gone even wider now, looking up at Warren in shock like he hadn’t expected Warren to react that way.

  
Warren stared him down, waiting him to explain what the hell he thought he was doing but instead Nathan just lay there taking increasingly raggedy breaths, watery blue eyes beginning to secrete actual proper tears.

  
He was semi-aware of Nathan trying to get up and talk to him but Warren couldn't take it anymore. Warren ran from his room, out the boy’s dormitory, ignoring the curious looks and Nathan shouting after him, out of the school and onto the football field, abandoned until practice at 16:00.

  
He collapsed onto his knees, put his arms over his head and screamed for what felt like forever.

  
He was in another universe where he didn’t know who his friends were, how to get into any of his devices and, worst of all, not only was his roommate Nathan Prescott…

  
He was dating him.

  
What kind of awful person did he have to be in this universe to have found a connection with literally the most disgusting human being he knew? Was he also part of the Vortex Club now? Did anyone else know about him and Nathan dating?

  
Warren sat on the ground, fingering the grass. He thought about his family back home, his friends, his teachers. Sure, they existed in this universe too, but they weren’t the people grew up with, these people knew a different him, a boy with an entirely different history. Would he have to pretend he was still the same person for everyone he met I here? Was there anyone he could talk to about what had happened to him?

  
The answer came to him swiftly:

  
Max.

  
She had also been a witness to the altercation between Nathan and the blue-haired girl, maybe if they’d both shared that same experience, perhaps she’d also been transported here.

  
Warren vowed to himself that he would find confront Max and hopefully with his brainpower and her creativity combined, they’d figure a way out of this.

  
_“However,”_ he thought to himself as he strapped on his backpack. _“Algebra first. Nothing calms the nerves like complex matrices.”_

  
Even in an alternate universe, Warren wasn’t about to start skipping classes.

 


	2. Acceptance

Thankfully, after checking the timetable in his bag, Warren found that his class schedule was still mostly the same, save for a few changed practical and tutorial sessions. He was also glad to see the people in his class hadn’t changed much, with some people from Science Club waving him over to where he presumably sat now. He spent most of Algebra chatting to them, trying to obtain as much information as he could about himself in this universe. Apparently, his position in the Science Club had been downgraded to financial manager and he was now also an avid member of the board game club which explained the D&D shirt he’d seen on the floor of Room Five.

By the time he’d moved on to Physics, the sickness Warren had been feeling since this morning was starting to fade and he felt a lot better for it. He could almost pretend everything was normal, if it wasn’t for the occasional reality check, such as Brooke’s behaviour towards him.

He’d tried to catch her eye during Algebra but she had simply given him an icy look and buried hr head in her textbook, not even bothering to look up for the rest of the lesson. When the bell tolled and people began packing up their stuff, Warren went up to her desk to ask if the drone session was still available but before he could even say anything she’d shoved past him, hitting him with one of her pointy elbows in the process. Warren had rubbed his shoulder, wondering what on earth he had done in this universe to piss her off that badly. Usually when she was in mood she just gave him the silent treatment for a bit, it was odd for her to be this openly hostile.

The teacher was discussing quantum field theory, not what had been on the curriculum in Warren’s own universe but he was still able to follow it okay. In fact it was so engrossing he didn’t notice two eyes boring into him until he took a quick glance at the back of the room to check the time and caught Brooke staring at him. She flushed angrily at being caught and turned her head away, stabbing her jotter in a violent manner.

Deciding he had more important things to worry about, Warren rushed out of the classroom before the bell had even stopped ringing, heading towards where he knew Mr Jefferson’s class was supposed to be. If Max was even still at this school, she’d definitely still be doing photography, it was practically in her blood.

By the time he’d made it, most of Jefferson’s class were already out in the hallway, chatting amongst themselves with the exception of Alyssa, who was on her phone as usual. Max wasn’t among them and Warren cursed at the thought that he had missed her.

At the corner of his eye, he spotted Daniel talking to someone by the lockers, Daniel presumably showing the guy a sketch he’d done that morning. The guy opposite Daniel laughed cheerily and Warren’s blood ran cold as he finally recognised him. He had forgotten how different Nathan looked here…

This thought was interrupted as suddenly Daniel was shoved from behind, falling at Nathan’s feet. Zachery, the one who’d pushed him, was laughing with the rest of his football team friends as Daniel scrambled to find his textbook which he hadn’t yet spotted was in Logan Robertson’s hands, who right now was smirking like an idiot.

Nathan was trying to help Daniel up whilst scowling at Zachery and Logan, looking like he really wanted to smash their faces in, making him look more like the Nathan Prescott Warren was used to, minus being friendly to Daniel of course.

“Give back the book Logan.” Nathan hissed, fists clenched whilst Daniel looked on in fear as he watched Logan roughly flick the pages of his sketch book, crumpling some of the pages.

“Or what Prescott, you’ll send your daddy’s bodyguard on me?” Logan laughed as he showed the book to the rest of his friends who were all sniggering like little boys. “You’ve been sketching a lot of girls in here Danny-Boy, had no idea you were such a pervert…”

Logan stopped talking when he reached a page and his face immediately darkened. He began to shove the sketchbook into poor Daniel’s face.

“Why’ve you been sketching my girlfriend in here you freak? You’ve got like five pages of just Dana, you been stalking her?”

Daniel was shaking now as Nathan tried to pull him away from Logan, who was now too close for comfort.

“I…I she asked me too, she saw my pictures, she asked if I could do some of her…”

Daniel’s stuttering was brought to an abrupt halt as Logan now shoves him again, making Nathan also fall over. Warren sees Logan’s eyes wonder over to a nearby water fountain and back to the book in his hands again, a smirk growing large across his face. Warren can practically see a devious plan forming…

Before Warren realises what he’s doing, he’s rushing forward and plunges his fist hard into Logan’s stomach, winding him. Logan drops the book and Daniel scuttles across the floor to get it, rushing back to Nathan and clutching it hard to his chest. Nathan looks on in shock, the previous anger gone from his face.

Zachery and his friends are frozen a second as they watch Logan huddled on the floor, clutching his stomach whilst Warren stands there looking at his own fist, like it had just grown another finger. It doesn’t take long for them to recover though as Zachery marches forward, fists clenched.

 _‘So much for not getting my nose broken today.”,_ as Warren braces for impact, eyes closed. He thinks he feels someone run across him before he hears a loud, angry voice cut through the air.

“What on earth are you guys doing?!”

Warren opened his eyes to see that one, Mr Jefferson had just marched out of the classroom, arms folded and eyes furious as he took in the scene in front of him and two, that Nathan had jumped in front of him, almost like he was trying to shield him as Zachery stood there frozen, his fist inches away from Nathan’s face.

“Well?”, Jefferson said, fingers drumming against his arms impatiently. Warren had never seen him look this angry.

“Uh… Mr Jefferson, this is not what this looks like…”

“I’d hope not Mr Riggins, otherwise it would be a trip to Principal Well’s office.” Jefferson says, threat imminent in his voice. “And I know for a fact you’re on your last warning, so maybe don’t pull stupid stunts like that outside my classroom. Now, move along.”

All the jocks go back down the hallway, Zachery throwing one more filthy look at Warren while Jefferson isn’t looking and Logan moving with a pained look on his face still.

Jefferson looks around at the rest of the class who are just looking on amazed and he snaps at them, clearly annoyed: “Don’t you people have somewhere else to be? Move along!”

The rest of the class begins to walk away, leaving just Daniel, Nathan and Warren behind by the lockers, with Mr Jefferson regarding them coldly. Warren knew a lot of the girls really liked Mr Jefferson but personally he just couldn’t see it, he always thought he was a bit pretentious and overbearing and whatever patient and courteous side he showed in front of his female students, he clearly did see the need to use that façade for any boys he taught.

“I don’t suppose you guys would care to tell me what just happened would you?” Mr Jefferson asked, directly his question mostly at Nathan since he was the only one he was making eye contact with.

Nathan exhaled a long breath like he was trying to calm himself (Warren noticed he’d gotten pretty red back there) and answered quietly:

“They shoved Daniel and stole his sketch book. Then Logan started going crazy and he was about to get violent so I tried to intervene and then… well… you walked in Mr Jefferson.”

Warren blinked at Nathan: he noticed he neglected to mention the part where he’d winded Logan but then Warren could only assume he was being courteous even after the way Warren had freaked out on him in their room earlier.

It was still too weird to think about it, that this Nathan still thought of him as… well, his boyfriend unless this was just some kind of quick high school fling him and Other-Warren were having.

Mr Jefferson had been watching their faces for any tell-tale signs of someone withholding information but Nathan only gave him a hard, neutral stare, Daniel was his usual fidgety, nervous self and Warren felt another wave of sleepiness wash over him. He just wanted this day to be over…

Mr Jefferson looked over at Daniel and says, with a slightly more warmer tone: “You okay Daniel? Sounds like you’re the victim in all this. Do you want to go to Principal Wells about this? Might help to get them off your back for a bit.”

Daniel shook his head, eyes down and sketchbook still clasped to his chest. Warren felt bad that even in this universe people still gave Daniel a lot of grief, just because he acted a little oddly. He was actually a really sweet guy if you ever gave him a chance and never seemed to complain about anything. It had been odd to see Prescott stand up for Daniel, since in his universe Nathan only ever referred to Daniel as ‘that retard’ and had been planning to ruin his big art project with a bunch of his Vortex Club friends before Warren got Miss Grant involved. It was one of the many reasons his Nathan hated his guts.

Mr Jefferson was looking at Warren now, eyes narrowed.

“You’re not in my class are you? How are you involved in all this?”

Before Warren could say anything, Nathan had answered for him.

“I told Warren to meet me outside class. He just happened to be here when they started picking on Daniel.”

Mr Jefferson looked over at Warren.

“Is that right Warren?”

“Yes sir.”, he murmured, still feeling a little sick.

Mr Jefferson nodded at them and looked like he was ready to wave them away when his classroom door opened and out came a girl who looked like she was in tears, the very light eyeliner she wore running a bit.

A girl with a brown mop of hair, cute slightly slanted blue eyes, a lilac hoodie and a pink doe t-shirt.

Warren’s heart was in his mouth now, he couldn’t stop staring. He was so happy to see her, even when she was in this state. She looked like she’d hardly changed, besides the eyeliner and slightly longer hair. Even the clothes were the exact same ones she’d been wearing the last time he saw her.

Max blinked at all of them, her red streaked face still wet from the tears. Clearly she’d hoped everyone would’ve left by now. She put her hood up and started walking down the hallway, her back to all of them and her pace quick. She was round the corner before Mr Jefferson even finished dismissing them.

Not even bothering to look back at Nathan and Daniel, Warren raced down the hallway, trying to catch up with Max. He could only guess that in her state the only placed she’d want to be heading right now is her room.

He finally caught up with her just outside the girl’s dormitory, hoodie up and headphones in.

“MAX!” he yelled, causing her to jump and whip round. She looked surprised to see him there.

“Can I help you?” she asked, her voice still a bit thick from crying but her eyes engaged and looking him over curiously.

Warren’s mind went blank for a second. What could he ask?

“I… errr… just wanted to know if you noticed anything odd this morning.”, he said, watching her eyes carefully, trying to gauge her reaction.

Max frowned like she didn’t quite understand the question.

“I’m sorry, I think you must be mistaking me for someone else. I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about.”

It was now Warren’s turn to frown. Okay, sure things were different in this universe but they must still know each other surely.

“I mean… have you been noticing any weird changes around the school today?”

Max shook her head and started walking away, clearly wanting this conversation to be over. Warren watched her walk away, panicked.

“Max, just please… answer me this.”

Max stopped and turned back to look at Warren. Warren tried not to stare too hard: even when her face was all puffy she was still very beautiful.

“Max, do you…”, he gulped, as a sob threatened to surface. “You do remember me, right?”

She looked him over carefully, like she was doing her best to fit a face to a person but eventually she gave up and just shook her head.

“I guess… maybe we might’ve seen each other around school sometime but I don’t remember ever talking to you.”

Warren could feel tears begin to spring, his eyes stinging. He closed them, wishing he could just wake up, that this morning never happened, that he’d wake up in his old room with the view of the maple tree.

He just wanted to go home.

He could sense Max was still standing there, he could only assume he was really freaking her out right now.

“I’m… very sorry.”, she whispered, sounding genuinely regretful. “I… need to go now. Hope everything’s alright.”

He heard her steps as she walked away, the small squeak of trainers on linoleum.

Max had been the only person he’d considered a real friend at Blackwell, the only person he thought he formed a real connection with, he’d thought that maybe he’d finally found someone who enjoyed spending time with him.

Now he had no one, no one who could understand what he was going through, no one to turn to.

He was alone.

He was stuck here.

And no one was coming to help him.

He felt sick again.

Warren rushed for the nearest bathroom, making it just in time before the vomit came up, the contents of a breakfast he didn’t even remember having. When his stomach felt completely empty, he flushed his mess down and went to go wash his mouth out with water from the sink. He looked in the mirror. Any colour left in his face had completely drained, except for the red rim around his eyes. He wiped his runny nose on his sleeve and looked in the mirror again- something caught his eye.

He turned around and saw that, sure enough, some writing he was sure hadn’t been there before was written just above the toilet he had just puked in. The writing was neat and cursive, almost like an old-fashioned letter and the oddest thing about it was that it was written as a mirror image. When he turned back towards the mirror he saw that it read:

_“Accept it.”_

 Warren stared at those two small words, it’s message short and blunt but somehow exactly what he needed right now. He may never get back to his old universe but really, he was lucky. His family was still here, he had plenty of people who at least liked him here and he was still at Blackwell, one of the most prestigious high schools in the country. He could still go on to university and do whatever he wanted: chemical engineering, theoretical astrophysics, nanotechnology…

The thought of having to see go back to his room again and face Nathan again and how Max had acted like she'd never even met him made his stomach twist uncomfortably but he tried to curbed this feeling by muttering a mantra inside his head:

“ _Accept it, you can’t go home, you have to stay here, accept it….”_

Warren walked out of the bathroom and into the hallways of Blackwell. He looked at the lockers, the posters, the people, all slightly different but you know what? Similar enough.

Warren felt a wave of calm flow through him, for the first time today he felt… almost good.

He smiled.

“I can do this.”, he whispered to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, just want to say from now on the chapters will be shorter due to my crazy schedule right now but I will try to keep working on this!


	3. Sketches

Warren waits outside Miss Grant’s classroom as the last bell of the day tolls, watching as the younger students spill out of her room, chatting excitedly amongst themselves. He recognises a few familiar faces like Mikey, Drew’s little brother, but there were also a lot he was sure he hadn’t seen before. One girl smiles at him and he smiles back, even if he has no idea how he’s meant to know her.

When the all students have finally left he enters the classroom and waves over at Miss Grant, who is sorting out some papers on her desk. She smiles at him and bends over to open the drawer below her desk.

“Here you go Warren.”, she says, handing over his phone to him. “Now, be here tomorrow four p.m sharp and nothing will have to go on your official record. But…” she wags her finger at him, “Don’t be making a habit out of this okay?”

Warren nods and thanks her, turning to leave the room.

“Oh, and by the way Warren,” Miss Grant says, just as Warren has his hand on the door knob. “I know you and Nathan are probably busy with projects right now but when you boys have the time would you mind making another display for parent’s evening?” She smiles warmly as she looks at him over her reading glasses. “Might be nice, seeing as it’s both your last year at Blackwell.”

Warren nods before he can really think about it. He doubted having to spend more time with Nathan Prescott was going to help his current situation but hey, he already had detention tomorrow, maybe it was best to just try and keep Miss Grant happy.

Warren shields his eyes as he walks out of the school, the sun shining directly in his eyes. It’s a fairly hot day and a lot of the Blackwell student population are sprawled out on the lawn out of class hours since, hey, where else was there for young people to hang out in Arcadia Bay.

Warren sits on a bench and once again checks his home screen for new messages, which there are several but all from a ‘Jack Skellington’ who Warren had guessed by now must be Nathan.

He read a few of the messages:

‘ _Hey, I’m waiting by the big truck.’_

_‘Are you coming?’_

_‘Are we meeting today?’_

_‘I’m going back to our room now. Please talk to me soon.’_

Judging by the time stamp on the messages, Nathan had been waiting at least twenty minutes for Warren to show. It made Warren briefly wonder what was so important that Nathan needed to talk to his other self about.

Reading a message sent this morning by his mother made his heart twinge a bit:

_‘Hey Sweetie! Hope all your Physics exam went okay, we’re all looking forward to seeing you again, please text us when you’re wanting to move out, Mom xxx’_

While it was good to see by the text that his mother was still around in this universe, he couldn’t help thinking about his real mother back home. Would she ever even know he was gone? Had other-Warren taken his place or was his body just wondering around like an android, saying and doing all the things he usual does, just without his first-person perspective?

Warren tries to distract these thoughts by taking in his surroundings: it really was kind of beautiful. The setting sun creating a comforting orange glow across the sky, the trees surrounding Blackwell casting long shadows across the lawn and butterflies were fluttering about the new tulip garden planted by Samuel.

While looking around, Warren suddenly spots two boys, one large, one skinny, sketching underneath one of the big oak trees. He immediately recognises them as Nathan and Daniel and they each look very engrossed in their own work, Nathan even doing that thing artists do where they stick their tongue out the side of their mouth for no apparent reason.

Warren took in this scene, thinking how he’d never see this in his own universe: preppy jerk Nathan Prescott and socially inept Daniel DaCosta drawing under a tree together. Somehow that was one of the most bizarre things he’d seen today, and that was saying something.

They both seemed unaware of Warren as they sat there, giving Warren a chance to think about whether to approach them or not. This whole Nathan situation had to be sorted out at some point and Warren knew for sure he didn’t want to be dating Nathan Prescott in any universe, even if it was just for a few more months until school ended. The roommate situation made the whole break-up idea very awkward, after all, who wanted to wake up to their ex-boyfriend every morning? Still, it had been fairly clear from what Nathan had said in their room and the phone messages that Other-Warren and Nathan’s relationship were on fairly rocky terms right now. Maybe he could take advantage of that, convince Nathan to end the relationship since they were probably going to different colleges anyway in a few months? Maybe Warren could try and get a room transfer?

Warren walks towards the oak tree, telling himself that he should at least try and be friendly. Judging from his actions today, defending Daniel and trying to block Logan’s fist with his face, this Nathan Prescott was a lot nicer than his devil spawn counterpart and if Warren was going to have to break up with him, he at least wanted it to be on good terms.

His mouth feeling very dry, Warren swallowed and tried to get the two boy’s attention:

“Hey guys.”, he says, his voice slightly raspy.

Daniel glances up and a huge smile begins to grow across his face like he was thrilled to see Warren.

“Hello Warren. Would you like to join us?”

Warren looks over at Nathan who still has his head in his sketchbook but he noticed a bright red flush was now growing across his neck and Warren could hardly blame him when looking at this day from Nathan’s perspective. First his boyfriend had seemingly been avoiding him, violently shoved him into a dresser after kissing him and finally had run off after a girl he didn’t know after trying to stop his face getting smashed in. How would someone react to that kind of behaviour?

He accepts Daniel’s offer and sits on the grass beside him, trying to look over his shoulder at his sketchbook. He was currently drawing someone who looked very familiar…

“Wait, are you drawing Miss Grant?”

Daniel nods, not pausing in his work.

“Yes, I thought it would be a nice present for her as she’s always been nice to me even if I’m not one of her students. Unfortunately, it is not coming out well, as I am used to people posing for my drawings, I don’t usually draw from memory, it’s very difficult for me…”

“Can I see Daniel?”

Warren jumped as Nathan suddenly joins the conversation. As Nathan glances at Warren, he flushes again, but he continues to look at Daniel expectantly.

Daniel obliges by holding out his sketchbook and Nathan crawls over to grab it, sitting himself right next to Warren so that he can also look. The Miss Grant sketch was clearly a work in progress, but it was still impressive, completely capturing Miss Grant’s demeanour, her look of utter peace as she sat with a good book, glasses low on her face and desk scattered with pens and knick-knacks. Nathan turns one page, then another. Both boys were kind of just mesmerised by now: Daniel had a real gift for reproducing their fellow classmate’s likenesses, from the dimples in their cheeks to the little creases around their eyes. While obviously Logan’s reaction to Dana’s pictures had been completely unjustified he could see why he had got mad: Daniel had drawn Dana completely as she was, confident and completely aware of her own attractiveness. The way she’d posed for Daniel hadn’t been sexual exactly, but he could how someone who didn’t know Daniel might’ve thought he was crushing on her.

Nathan snaps the sketchbook shut and hands it back to the Daniel.

“They’re really good Daniel. Are you still posting them on Facebook?”, Nathan asks cheerily.

Daniel begins to shift uncomfortably, and he murmurs something Warren has to lean in a little further to hear:

“I don’t think it’s a good idea anymore, people are mean about it…”

Warren frowns: he hated seeing Daniel sad, he was such an open, honest person and people like that always seemed to be the ones people liked to hurt. Nathan chews the side of his mouth, clearly embarrassed to have caused an awkward moment.

“Well, you know what, you don’t need those people’s opinions anyway…” Warren says, trying to give his voice as much conviction as possible. “We think you’re talented and that’s all that matters.”

Daniel didn’t smile but his eyes brighten a little bit and Nathan gives Warren a grateful look, a look that makes Warren feel… well, a little weird.

“How about you Nathan? Can we see your drawings?”, Daniel asks, pointing at the sketchbook lying by Nathan’s knees.

Nathan’s mouth twists a little bit as he hands the book over.

“It’s pretty crap, I’ll be honest. I just draw stupid little cartoons most of the time. I’m definitely more of a photographer.”

Warren looks at Nathan’s pages and while he has to admit Nathan had an unusual style, it wasn’t without talent. All the people were drawn with slender bodies, long fingers and eyes with very dilated pupils. There were drawings of every supernatural creature under the sun: vampires, werewolves, mummies, zombies…

Warren pauses at a page that looked a lot different from the others. It was done in a more realistic, sketchy style and it was of a hillside, scattered with graves and people in mourning clothes. It reminded him of one of the photos he’d seen in Room Five but he couldn’t quite remember which…

Daniel hands back Nathan’s sketchbook.

“I really like it Nathan, it’s very interesting looking, it’s kind of gothic like your photos…”, Daniel says, nodding enthusiastically.

Nathan smiles at Daniel but doesn’t look entirely convinced by the praise as he places his book back into his bag. Daniel checks his watch and stands up.

“I will see you two tomorrow, I must go and work on Mr Jefferson’s assignment now. Good day.”

Daniel walks towards the dormitory building, leaving Warren and Nathan alone underneath the tree together. Nathan looks at Warren, any awkwardness Daniel managed to subside brewing up again. Warren knows he has to say something.

“So, err… I guess we need to talk about this morning then?” Warren asks, trying not to let the dread show too much in his face.

Nathan contemplates for a moment before answering:

“I think we need to talk about the last couple of days actually.”, he says calmly, looking off into the distance.

Warren began to panic: now he had to act like he knew what the hell he was talking about again. Luckily for him, Nathan continues talking:

“I just want you to know, I promise that I will never do it again and if I’m ever struggling with things, I promise I’ll be honest about it. I know I really hurt you because I made it feel like I didn’t trust you but… I only did it because I’m selfish and a coward. I just wanted to be better, to be good, to be… the boyfriend you deserve that I never feel like I’m able to be. So, if you…” Nathan stops talking for a moment and lowers his eyes. When he talks again his voice is quieter and more strained. “If you don’t want to do this anymore I understand and…”

Nathan can’t talk anymore as his voice cracks and he turns his head so Warren can't see his face. He looks like he’s trying to hold himself together better than this morning but it’s clearly not easy for him- even the thought of breaking up seemed to make him very emotional.

Warren sighs to himself- the opportunity to end the relationship was practically gift-wrapped for him and he was actually considering not taking it because he felt sorry for goddamn Nathan Prescott. What a day…

Nathan turns his head back to Warren and looks him in the eye, his eyes a little red but at least he wasn’t crying this time. He gives Warren a steady look, like he was preparing himself for bad news. Warren looks back at him, thinking about the Nathan back in his universe: his arrogance, the cruel remarks, the sick pranks. He thought about the girl in the bathroom, how Nathan had stood there, head in his hands, gun by his feet…

He studies the Nathan in front of him: he had a little furrow between his eyebrows but that was due to distress rather than disgust or anger. His unkempt hair fell in soft waves, whatever product he usually used clearly not in work here and his brown eyes showed no signs of malice, just sorrow. Warren thought about his actions today: defending Daniel, sticking up for Warren in front of a teacher, being a kind of friend to Daniel.

As Warren took all this information into account, he finally made a decision: this Nathan wasn’t responsible for what any of his other-self’s actions and he hadn’t given any reason for Warren to doubt he wasn’t a good person in this universe. He clearly cared deeply for this version of Warren and Warren just wasn’t sure, as he looked into Nathan’s eyes, that he could bring himself to… well, hurt him.

If he could just keep this façade up for a little bit longer, maybe other-Warren would return of his own accord and Warren would be back in his own universe. Maybe everything would just work itself out…

Warren places a hand on Nathan’s shoulder, Nathan shiverering as he did so.

“I’m not breaking up with you.”, Warren says firmly, forcing himself to look directly into Nathan’s eyes. “I’m sorry I haven’t been talking to you, but I’m done being mad now. I just want to move past this.”

Nathan’s face twitches a bit as some clearly complicated emotions washed over him, first relief, then confusion, sadness, then back to relief. He places a hand on Warren’s arm and Warren had to stop himself from slapping it away.

“Warren I…”, Nathan steadies himself as he took another deep breath. “I don’t want you to forgive me just because you’re trying to be nice, I want to really work through this. You were pretending way too hard that everything was still okay this morning, it was weird…”

“Yeah I know,”, Warren interrupts Nathan as he slyly manages to push Nathan’s hand off him without him noticing. “And I’m sorry about that, but it’s because I just really wanted to get over this whole argument thing. How about we just take things slowly from now on?”

Nathan nods, still looking a bit troubled. He chews on his lip again whilst looking into the middle distance. After a minute he turns back to Warren.

“I’m sorry I tried to kiss you like that this morning, I should’ve guessed you’d be uncomfortable with that just after fighting.”

Warren hesitates before answering:

“It’s… fine. Honestly, it’s not your fault, I wasn’t feeling great this morning anyway and… I’m sorry for pushing you like that. I don’t know why I lashed out.”

Nathan’s eyebrows furrow in concern.

“You weren’t feeling great? Are you okay? Is that why you were acting out in Miss Grant’s class?”

Warren frowns at that.

“I wasn’t ‘acting out’, I just happened to have my phone out and she caught me. And yeah, I’m fine, it’s just that… I haven’t been sleeping great the last few days okay?”

Warren realises he sounded more defensive than he intended but Nathan didn’t seem to pay that too much mind. He just plays with the grass as he quietly murmurs:

“Yeah, I haven’t been sleeping great either…”

At the mention of sleep, Warren felt his eyes grow heavy. He had forgotten how tired he’d been feeling all day.

“Nathan, I think I’m going back to our room now. I’m seriously about to pass out here.”

Nathan’s eyes widened.

“Are you okay? Do you need help getting to our dorm?”

“No, no…” Warren said, waving away Nathan’s hand as he reached for him. “I’ll be fine, I just need to catch up on my sleep. I’ll see you later okay?”

Nathan nods affirmatively, not looking entirely convinced but he let it be. As both boys stood up, he couldn’t help feeling Nathan’s eyes on his back as he walked away. He turns around, curious.

“What?”

Nathan fidgets with the hem of his t-shirt, looking nervous before whispering softly:

“I just wondered… like I know we’re in public and everything but… could we… hug?”

Warren’s heartbeat quickens but he immediately tries to calm himself.

‘ _You have to pretend to be his boyfriend, this is normal, it’s just a hug, nothing too scary…”_

Warren told himself this as he forced a smile and walked over to Nathan. Nathan looked a bit scared as he wrapped his arms around Warren’s waist, clearly nervous about freaking him out again, but he quickly relaxed, hugging him gently, head on Warren’s shoulder and hands slowly rubbing his back. Warren had to admit if he pretended it was anyone else, this was almost kind of… nice. Nathan was a surprisingly good hugger for a skinny guy. His breathing was slow and deep, almost like he was sleeping on Warren, but it was only about ten more seconds before Nathan lets go of him and he leans down to get his bag from the floor.

“Thanks Warren.”, Nathan whispers, a soft smile on his face. “I’ve got to go to the computer room now, I’ll see you soon, yeah?”

Warren forces another smile and turns before Nathan can ask for another goodbye. It had literally only been a minute and Warren was already regretting his decision. Trying to be nice to Nathan was hard enough, but hugging him, kissing him…?

_Worse???_

Warren tried to get those thoughts out of his mind as he reached his dorm room and unlocked the door. All he needed now was a good night’s sleep, then he could work out what his options were from here.

As he searched his room for a clean pair of pyjamas, Warren couldn’t help sniffing himself, he smelt a bit rank. He was surprised Nathan had wanted to hug him at all. It also occurred to him that he hadn’t brushed his teeth since he’d thrown up earlier.

Grabbing a towel drying on the radiator and a clean t-shirt and pair of sweatpants, Warren went to the shower room, glad to see it was only occupied by a couple of younger boys he didn’t know. As the first burst of lukewarm water hit his back, he thought about his whole situation. While Warren had known from a fairly young age he was also attracted to guys, it wasn’t something he felt like telling people. His preference was mostly girls since most guys at this school he tended to put in the categories of jerks or just friends and even if he did start crushing on a guy, it’d never been worth pursuing. Living in close quarters with other boys, it was best to keep your mouth shut about about that sort of thing, unless you wanted to deal with people giving you the evil eye in the changing rooms and the obnoxious gay jokes. If he was assumed to be straight, people thought of him as Warren, not just ‘that gay guy’ and people could like that or not, but at least it was him.

Turning off the faucet, Warren dried himself on the towel and pulled his clothes on. He couldn’t help looking at the shower room walls before walking out but no moremysterious writing appears _‘Maybe there is no parallel universes, maybe I am just going crazy.’_ Warren thinks groggily as he walks down the hallway, narrowly avoiding a toilet paper missile.

When he gets back to his room, he immediately collapses onto the bed, not even bothering to get underneath the sheets. His eyes close, grateful he no longer had to fight the drowsiness that had been taking a hold of him all day.

 _‘Please let this be all a dream…’,_ he thinks as he feels himself drift away. _‘Please let me wake up in my normal room tomorrow…’_

Everything turns to darkness…

***

Warren is woken by the sound of someone moaning. His sleepy mind tries to associate the noise, thinking of the sound his dog makes when his mom accidentally leaves him in the garden but no, this sounded much more human…

Looking at the digital clock by his bed, the numbers read 02:06.

 _‘Geez, no wonder I still feel so tired…’,_ Warren thinks as he slowly sits up, rubbing his eyes. He looks over and sees the source of the moaning.

Nathan must’ve gone to bed without waking him, because he was in his own bed now but he didn’t look like he was sleeping very peacefully. His long limbs were kicking and turning, his sheets were knotted around his feet. The moaning was starting to resemble more human words now as Warren caught some sentences:

“No… please don’t… I didn’t mean to… stop, please…”

Warren walks over, trying to avoid tripping over his own general mess and Nathan’s book fort. When he finally reached Nathan's beside he took in a sharp intake of breath as he sees how terrible Nathan looks. His face is flushed, beads of sweat clinging to his forehead and his teeth are clenched tight like he's in pain. His hands are clawing at the mattress and his breathing is loud and rough, like he's having to force the air through his lungs.

“Nathan? Nathan!” yelps Warren as he grabs Nathan's shoulder and tries to shake him awake. Warren panicked mind turns to thoughts of fits, seizures. Would the school nurse even be around this time of night?

He slaps Nathan lightly across the cheek and Nathan’s eyelids flash open, his eyes wild and erratic looking as he yells something incoherent. Warren shushes him, his eyes wandering nervously over to the wall connecting them to their neighbours. What on earth would they think was going on…

Nathan was sitting up now, he was curled up with his head between his knees and judging by the way his shoulders were heaving, he was sobbing. Warren looked on, feeling completely at a loss for what to do as he watched his crying roommate.

He wasn’t sure why he did it, but Warren reached out a hand and started slowly rubbing small circles along the top of Nathan’s back, doing this for what felt like several minutes. For whatever reason, this seemed to calm Nathan as the sobbing subsided and his breathing became more regular. Taking a shaky breath, Nathan raised his head up and turned to Warren, one tear leaking from his watery eyes. He was alarmingly pale now and shivering as his entire body still looked wet from sweat. Warren grabbed the sheets that were now tangled at the foot of the bed and placed them around Nathan, trying to give him some warmth. Nathan hugged the sheets towards his chest, his body shaking again. He was trying to say something, but he kept choking on his words as he gasped for more air.

“S…Sorry. Sorry…”, he eventually manages to say, gulping uncontrollably as more tears leaked down his face.

Warren wanted to say something but suddenly his vision went fuzzy and he suddenly finds himself lying down in bed again, but it feels different, like there’s someone else beside him…

_I’m woken up by something banging against my shoulder. In my half-awake state, I push against it, thinking I’m ten years old again and mom’s waking me up for school but when the pushing doesn’t stop I wake up for real and realise Nathan must be having another attack. I look down at him, my breath quickening as I see how bad he looks. I usually wake up as soon as he starts making any kind of noise, so I can stop it before the dreams get worse and he starts thrashing about, but I must’ve been sleeping really heavily tonight because it looks like it’s been going on for several minutes now, his forehead shiny with sweat, wet strands of hair lying flat on his face. He’s yelling now, his voice low and hoarse and he keep punching out with his fists, trying to get at whatever he thinks is attacking him._

_I grab his flailing wrists and put my mouth to his ear, muttering: “Nathan, Nathan, wake up, I’m here, please wake up…”_

_His eyes open and he looks at me, kneeling between his legs, restraining his arms. He looks wildly around the room, like he needs to check, like he needs to be sure…_

_“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”, he sobs, lowering his arms and pressing his face in his hands,._

_He tries to turn his face away from me but I put my hands over his cheeks and kiss his forehead. I rub small circles around his temples and whisper: “You have nothing to be sorry for, you’re here now okay? I’m here.”_

_I hold him up so I can properly hug him and eventually his limp arms also begin to also reach around my waist. I grab some spare sheets from under the bed and put them on top of us. I lower us onto the mattress, our arms still wrapped around each other tightly. I turn him away from me as I put one leg over his body and start rubbing his chest slowly. His breathing is almost back to normal now and as it reaches a rhythm that sounds healthy I stop and wrap my arms around his waist again. I put my face in the crook of his back and I breathe in his smell, thankful he's okay now, praying he’ll feel normal again by the time our alarm goes off in a few hours’…_

Warren gasps as suddenly he is brought back to… the present? The memory had been so vivid, had felt so real that there was no doubt in his mind that this was something other-Warren had experienced and for whatever reason, this specific memory had invaded his own brain. Warren looked down at Nathan, who was very still now, sheets wrapped tightly around him. So, these little freak outs had happened to him before. Warren wondered how often they happened and how much of a problem it was in their relationship. Judging by the memory, him and Nathan usually shared one of the beds, so it couldn’t be every night, right?

He couldn’t really explain how it happened but suddenly Warren found himself lying next to Nathan on the bed as he slowly wrapped him into a hug. Nathan didn’t respond at first but then he lowers his head into the crook of Warren’s neck and wraps his arms around his upper back. Warren feels Nathan’s breath tickle his chin as his breathing once again becomes regular. He feels Nathan's body relax into his own as he once again goes into a state that resembles sleep. Warren felt his eyes grow heavy again as he felt his body relax into Nathan’s mattress.

 _‘Don’t go to sleep now.’,_ he tells himself, as he feels the urge overcome him. ‘ _If you go to sleep now, you’ll be falling asleep in Nathan Prescott’s arms…’_

But he was too tired to move and besides, Nathan had managed to wrap himself around him so that his shoulder wouldn’t get too stiff and the feeling of Nathan's chest breathing in and out against his own was almost kind of hypnotic with it’s rhythm.

As Warren leans back and closes his eyes, one last thought floats through his mind as unconsciousness once again overcomes him:

_‘What a day Warren, what a day…’_


	4. Crack in the Wall

Warren awakens to his usual alarm blaring but as he leans over, blearily trying to locate the source, he can’t help thinking something feels very different this morning. Was it just his imagination or did the room look… bigger? And were his sheets different?

Suddenly it all comes rushing back to him. The shooting, a different universe, Nathan Prescott…

Warren hurriedly sits up, throwing the unfamiliar black and white sheets off him and the sight he is met with confirms that, yes, everything he remembered from yesterday was real. Nathan Prescott is sitting at the desk, already fully dressed and putting textbooks into his satchel bag. He’s wearing a large olive-green hoodie which really freaks out Warren for some reason.  Seeing Nathan Prescott wearing a hoodie was kind of like seeing Mr Jefferson wearing capris- there was something just very wrong about it.

Nathan reaches over to switch off the alarm clock on their desk, looking over at Warren as he does so. He smiles.

“Hey, Victoria asked me to be over there early this morning for this assignment we’re doing together. Will I see you at lunchtime?”

Warren nods sluggishly, it was too early to think of a good reason why not. Nathan grins and gets up to leave before pausing by the bed, giving Warren a strange look. Warren pulse quickens as he worries Nathan is about to try and kiss him again but evidently, he decides against it as he keeps walking.

Just as he’s about to leave the room however, Nathan glances back at him over his shoulder. He sighs heavily, one hand against the door.

“About last night… I’m sorry. It’s my own fault that they’re starting again, I promise I’ll try and make sure it doesn’t get any worse.”

Nathan is out of the room before Warren even has a chance to respond. What could he say anyway? If there’s anything he wants to forget about from yesterday, it’s last night.

Warren groans into the mattress as he recalls his idiotic actions. He could’ve just comforted Nathan last night, got some water maybe, but no, he had to crawl into bed with him. Not just that, they’d been practically cuddling! What on earth had possessed him?!

Suddenly he recalled the vision he’d had: other-Warren’s memory of another night Nathan had had night terrors. Even though the situation had been very stressful, he could still remember the affection that this universe’s Warren felt for Nathan, how intimate they’d been towards each other, no boundaries, no secrets. Perhaps the reason Warren had felt so comfortable sleeping in the same bed as Nathan was because other-Warren’s feelings had been confusing him.

When Warren compared how open and caring the two of them had been in Warren’s memory to the way Nathan had nervously approached him yesterday morning, he briefly wondered what had happened to ruin that trust. Nathan had seemed overly apologetic since he first met him that morning, it must’ve been a bad argument.

Deciding it was best not to think about it too much, Warren got dressed and packed his bag for the day. As he was trying to look for his Calculus textbook he couldn’t help noticing that there was large crack on one of the walls he hadn’t noticed before. He ran a hand over it, frowning. Why did it seem so familiar…?

_“What did you two do?”, Mom gasps she as walks in and spots the crack the furthest wall has just recently acquired._

_“It’s Warren’s fault!”, Dad splutters, pointing at me. He was in his forties but acts like a toddler sometimes when it came to responsibility.  “He didn’t catch the lamp!”_

_“That’s not fair Dad! You didn’t warn me you were going to throw it!”, I yell angrily. “And why would you throw a lava lamp anyway?!”_

_“Okay enough!”, Mom snaps, putting down the cardboard boxes she’d gotten from the car. “We’ll have to report this you know.”_

_We all sigh collectively as a family as we study the damage: the crack was really bad, a sprawling spider that couldn’t be easily covered by one poster and my lava lamp lay smashed on the floor, the patch of carpet wet and covered in broken glass._

_Safe to say not the best first impression to make on my first day at Blackwell Academy._

_Mom does her best to clean up all the glass and Dad finds a dry cloth to dab at the carpet with. I start unpacking the rest of my stuff, starting with the box containing my comic books. Mom and Dad bicker back and forth about which one of them should go to the school office to report the damage, with Mom obviously winning that argument._

_Just as I’m ready to open the next box, the door to our room opens. A boy walks in, he looks about my age, but way smaller and kind of scrawny. He wears a red button-up shirt and expensive looking jeans that are a little too long for his legs. His hair reminds me of the jock-type in every bad eighties movie, except impeccably neat. He regards me without smiling. I can only assume from his expression he is not pleased to see us in here._

_Mom is the first one to greet him._

_“Hello, you must be Warren’s roommate. I’m Jackie, Warren’s Mom and this is his Dad Steve.”, Mom smiles, grabbing the boy’s limp hand and shaking it. The boy looks uncomfortable, clearly not used to strangers being so friendly. “What’s your name?”_

_The boy sulkily mutters “Nathan…” before his eyes wonder over to the far wall. His eyes widen in horror._

_Mom looks embarrassed as she starts babbling apologies:_

_“We’re so sorry about that, my husband threw a lamp, it was very idiotic of him and we promise we’ll pay for all the damage…”_

_“Geez, Jackie, practice your apologies for the school principle, don’t scare the boy.”, Dad says walking over to also shakes Nathan’s hand. “Hey, Steve the idiot here. Some advice: if you and Warren are living together, just remember not to throw anything at him because he won’t catch it.”_

_I scowl at Dad while Nathan just looks confused and like he wants to be anywhere else right now._

_“Anyway…”, Mom says, raising an eyebrow disapprovingly at Dad. “We’re just going to go report the incident now and then we’re taking Warren out for lunch before we have to go. Would you like to come along Nathan?”_

_Nathan blinks at Mom like he’s surprised, and I try to give Mom my best ‘this is a bad idea’ face. Problem with Mom is she doesn’t understand that I’m nearly thirteen now and social interactions with my peers didn’t get more awkward than ‘lunch with the parents’. Besides, the guy just gave me bad vibes generally. He’d remained stony faced the entire time my parents were trying to be friendly to him and he didn’t even try to hide his distaste when he looked over at the action figures I’d laid out on one of the spare shelves._

_Maybe it would turn out later that he was just being shy today but right now, I didn’t want to share my lunch with an unfriendly stranger. I wanted it to just be me, Mom and Dad today before they left me here for three months at Blackwell Academy, one of the most prestigious schools in the state. I couldn’t believe it when they accepted me for a scholarship after only my first application. My parents were thrilled for me, even if it meant from now on they’d only ever see me during the Summer and Christmas. I’d promised to email and text though and Mom even mentioned they might try and come up on my birthday if they managed to get the time off._

_“Err… if you don’t mind, I’m kinda tired right now. I’d rather have some quiet time.”, Nathan mutters, head down and hands deep in his pockets._

_There’s a tightness around Mom’s lips as she severely disapproves of people not making eye contact while talking but she tries to smile anyway._

_“Oh, that’s fine. I expect you’re pretty tired yourself, with all your unpacking…”, Mom says as she glances over at Nathan’s side of the room, which is pretty bare except for bedsheets and a few expensive looking devices, like a camera and music system._

_There’s an awkward pause before Mom starts cheerily chattering again:_

_“Well, me and Steve better go see Principle Wells about the damage then. See you soon!”_

_I was about to protest that Mom had said before it should be just Dad that goes but Mom gives me a hard look that says: ‘be sociable!’._

_So, I am left alone in the room with Nathan. I look over at him to see if he wanted to talk at all but he’s already turning on his own high-tech computer and has his headphones on. So much for being sociable._

_I keep unpacking my stuff, occasionally glancing over at Nathan but he’s still just acting like I don’t exist. That’s honestly fine with me, this guy may be an asshole but at least he was a quiet asshole._

_When I finished unpacking another box, I decided to take a quick look at whatever Nathan was doing on his computer. It looked like he was editing a black and white photograph of a large house that looked like it was straight out of the old Scooby Doo opening, I half expected bats to fly out and the theme tune to start playing._

_When Nathan catches me looking over his shoulder he scowls and closes the tab. I get the message and move onto another box, trying to act like I hadn’t been interested in what he was doing._

_A few minutes later my parents came back, elated that they didn’t have to pay much for damages since fixing the crack wouldn’t require much effort. Mom said goodbye to Nathan and Nathan, for his part, did take his headphones off and gave a polite but cold goodbye._

_I am very glad to be out of the room, I’m already feeling a lot better as I walk down the hallway chatting to my parents about Blackwell’s chemistry curriculum, the newly built laboratory and a new physics teacher who’d recently retired from CERN. Walking out of the school building, I smiled at the grounds with their luscious trees and freshly mowed grass, the hubbub of students moving into their dorms._

_I’m here, I made it._

_I’m studying at Blackwell Academy._

Warren puts a hand out to steady himself as he’s quickly brought back to reality. He’d hoped last night had been a one-off, but once again, he was having memories of things he’d never personally experienced.

He rubbed his head, it was now throbbing a little bit. Still, this vision had told him a lot about this universe’s Warren: first, that his Dad was still a walking disaster waiting to happen, second that his mom was still very affectionate but overbearing and third, that this Warren started at Blackwell Academy when he wasn’t even thirteen years old yet, rather than when he was sixteen. He remembered he had thought about applying when he was thirteen but decided against it, since it had been a stressful time with his younger sister having pneumonia. It was his Dad who encouraged him to go for it a couple of years later and even then, it taken a few applications before he finally got accepted. He’d almost given up hope at one point.

He couldn’t help smirking a little bit as he remembered how Nathan had looked in his vision: who knew the guy used to be so small? Warren had gone through an early growth spurt when he was young which made him one of the taller guys in his year for a while before everyone else started catching up. He’d towered over Nathan back then, it was such an odd experience seeing himself look down on Nathan Prescott from that height.

Nathan had acted like a stuck-up git when him and other-Warren first met but he was still nowhere near as bad as the Nathan Warren knew back home, who’d greeted him with his fist the first time they met. Warren was kind of curious now if this young version of Nathan had been anything like the one in his universe and if so, what had caused their paths to diverge so much.

As Warren headed to his first class of the day, he thought about how weird it was that in all the years they’d been at Blackwell, him and Nathan still lived in the same room and how poorly it reflected on Blackwell’s maintenance staff that they’d never bothered to fix that crack in the wall.

 


	5. Scraps

Just as Miss Grant is about to start the metal oxide demonstration, the classroom door opens and Mr Madsen, Blackwell’s one security guard, pops his head through and tips his hat apologetically at Miss Grant.

“Sorry to interrupt Miss, but Principle Well’s would like to see a Warren Graham in his office right now.”

Miss Grant raises an eyebrow at Warren over her safety goggles as if to say ‘what’s going on with you now?’ but she lets him leave after reminding him to catch up tonight using the online Chemistry notes. Warren packs away his stuff and joins Mr Madsen in the hallway, who is leaning against the wall, arms crossed and glowering. He gives Warren a hostile look before marching down the hallway, arms swinging as Warren strolls behind him, wondering what on earth Principal Wells would want to see him about. In all his years at Blackwell, he didn’t think he’d even ever had a conversation with the man, never mind been invited into his office.

“Already up to my neck in the amount of extra crap I have to do around this delinquent cesspool…”, Mr Madsen growls bitterly to himself, clenching his fists as he does so. “But now I’m expected to ferry little punks like you back and forth, like some fricking porter? No bloody respect I swear…”

If it’d been other company, Warren might’ve pointed out that a porter would be a bad simile for this situation as Mr Madsen wasn’t carrying anything to the office, but Warren suspected Mr Madsen wouldn’t exactly appreciate that little bit of information right now.

When they reach the office, Mr Madsen raps his knuckles loudly on the door and when an affirmative reply emits from within, he opens it, muttering: “I’ve got Warren Graham here Mr Wells.”

Mr Wells looks up from his desk, nodding sagely at him.

“Thank you Mr Madsen, that will be all.”

Mr Madsen grunts and turns to leave, not even giving Warren a passing glance as he marches out. Warren notices that there are three other boys sitting around Mr Well’s impressively-sized desk, whom he recognises as Zachary, Logan and Nathan. Zachery head turns around and smirks smugly at Nathan, whilst Logan just looks on dumbly. Nathan looks distressed as he gestures with his eyes towards Zachery and Logan and Warren’s heart sinks as he begins to realise what this is probably all about.

“Mr Graham, sit down please, there is an accusation that needs to be discussed here regarding you specifically.”

Warren shakily sits down in the spare seat next to Nathan, trying not to catch his eye as he does so- he’s nervous enough without having to think about his confusing relationship drama. Principal Well’s office is intimidatingly large, with tall bookcases and shiny plaques lining every wall. Well’s has his hands clasped together on the desk as his eyes wander over each of the boys in turn, finally lingering on Warren who is doing his best to look as oblivious as possible. Mr Wells clears his throat and starts speaking with as much authority as he can muster:

“Mr Graham, Mr Robertson here is accusing you of an assault that allegedly occurred yesterday afternoon in the locker area by Mr Jefferson’s classroom.”

Nathan looks like he is about to protest but Mr Wells holds up a hand to silence him.

“As I’m sure you all know, we have a zero-tolerance policy against violence here at Blackwell Academy, so we started investigating immediately. We asked Mr Jefferson who was there not long after the incident allegedly occurred to question Mr Prescott here and Daniel DaCosta about what had happened. Apparently, Mr Prescott had told Mr Jefferson at the time that Mr Logan had been acting hostilely towards Mr DaCosta before he intervened but neglected to mention any of Mr Graham’s involvement.” Mr Wells nodded towards Warren. “After Mr DaCosta was questioned by Mr Jefferson, he eventually admitted that Mr Robertson’s accusation that you had punched him in the stomach was indeed true. Mr Graham, do you deny this?”

Before Warren could even begin to process the question, Nathan starts angrily objecting:

“Did Mr Jefferson tell you that they shoved Daniel to the ground twice? Or that they stole his sketchbook and wouldn’t give it back? Or…”

“Thank you, Mr Prescott.”, Principal Wells hisses, regarding Nathan coldly. “We will be questioning other students who all witnessed the event soon to confirm the details of what happened, so until then I advise you hold your tongue. For now, I need to know if Mr Graham did indeed perform the act Mr Robertson is accusing him of.”

Warren blinks in surprise: he can’t believe Wells just snapped at Nathan. Like sure, Nathan was a very different person in this universe, but he was still a Prescott and the Principal Wells he knew would never dare upset a member of the Prescott family: they basically had the whole town in their pcoket, including the school.

“Mr Graham, did you or did you not hit Mr Robertson yesterday?”, Mr Wells asks sternly, deep frown lines now appearing on his large forehead.

Warren’s palms sweat as he tries to think of what to say. He’d kept his head down for years, he wasn’t even sure whether violence was an act worthy of suspension or not. Zachery leans back, hands in the pockets of his letterman jacket, trying not to smile. Warren knew for a fact Logan was too dumb and lazy to think of doing this himself, Zach must’ve put him up to this.

Warren clears his throat, deciding to go for the more honest option:

“I did hit him sir, but I can explain. Logan was starting to get really aggressive towards Daniel and was about to ruin his sketchbook, so I stepped in. I didn’t plan to punch him, I was just reacting.”

“You can’t prove anything Graham! I never even laid a hand on him!”, Logan protests, his words slow and over enunciated, like he’s been practicing a script.

Zach nods encouragingly.

“That’s right Mr Wells, our friends will back us up.”, Zach says, doing his best attempt at an innocent expression. “Warren mistook some friendly teasing for a confrontation and he went crazy. He kind of scared me honestly.”

Now Warren was mad. He scowls over at Zachery who raises his eyebrows as if to say ‘what?’. He can’t believe he’s gotten himself into this situation, victim of a revenge plot masterminded by two petty jocks trying to get their pride back.

Nathan can’t hold it in any longer as a torrent of angry protests begin to escape from his lips:

“Mr Wells, most of the photography class saw what happened, you should speak to them and I know for a fact Mr Jefferson saw Zach trying to punch Warren. He should’ve…”

“Enough!”, Mr Wells slams down his hands on the desk. He glares at Nathan. “Other witnesses will be questioned in the meantime and we will decide accordingly what actions need to be taken.”

“I could sue!”, Logan suddenly barks, thumping one fist loudly on the desk, causing Mr Wells to scowl. “My injury could affect my performance in the next game you know.”

Zachary glares at Logan, his eyes trying to signal ‘don’t ruin this for us you idiot’. Mr Wells raises one cynical eyebrow.

“Well considering your next major tournament isn’t for another month, I think you have ample time to recover from a punch to the stomach.”, Principal Well drawls dryly. “So I wouldn’t put a whole lot of stock in taking this to court Mr Robertson. You and Mr Riggins are dismissed now.”

Zachery and Logan walk out the room, Zachery accidentally on purpose bumping Warren with his bag as he passes him. As the door closes, Mr Well’s full attention turns to the two remaining boys. He sighs deeply into his clasped hands and gives Warren a stern stare.

“Mr Graham, I don’t think I have to explain why I am extremely disappointed to see you in here. You have always been an exemplary student here at Blackwell and the fact you resorted to violence yesterday is very out of character from the one described by your teachers. I hope very much that I won’t see you in this office for the remainder of the school year and if it turns out you did attack Mr Robertson unprovoked, there will be serious repercussions. As for you Mr Prescott…”, Wells suddenly turns towards Nathan, his face darkening. “I was hoping after the incident with Drew North all those years ago, you’d have learnt how to hold a civil tongue in this office but apparently not. If any word gets back to me that you put one more foot out of line, believe me, I will not hesitate to contact your father about your behaviour. Now…”, Wells makes a show of signing their incident form with a large flourish. “You may both leave.”

As soon as they’re both out of earshot of the office, Nathan starts ranting again, practically spitting with fury.

“I can’t believe those two! I know they’re complete assholes but since when do they go snitching to the principal? It must be because they heard you were a straight-A student and thought it would be funny. Mr Wells is as useless as ever, he didn’t even care about the fact Daniel was getting pushed around. I guess it doesn’t count as bullying to him if Daniel’s too terrified to actually report it to anyone. And Mr Jefferson was acting like such a dick earlier, I honestly couldn’t believe it…”

Warren looks curiously at him.

“What do you mean?”

Nathan pauses in his tirade, breathing heavily. He looks over at Warren, his eyes troubled.

“I mean like… well you know how Mr Jefferson is usually pretty chill? Well, he was acting really weird this morning. He kept getting really irritated at people in his lesson and he even left the room for ten minutes without telling us where he was going. Then when he confronted me and Daniel after class, he started really going at us. He kept telling us he knew we’d been lying yesterday and we’d get into trouble if we didn’t tell the truth and that was when Daniel started crying and err… told him that you winded Logan.” Nathan give Warren an apologetic look. “It was kind of horrible actually, Daniel doesn’t get upset much but when he does… it’s really bad.”

Warren’s eyebrows furrow in concern.

“Is he okay?”

“He’s fine, I left him with Dana- those two have been becoming pretty good friends recently and she’s really nice: she’ll know what to say.”

Warren nods slowly, a bit perturbed that Dana and Daniel could be described as friends in this universe but hey, hardly the most unusual thing he’d come across these past twenty-four hours. He thought about Mr Jefferson- sure he’d always found him pretty pretentious, but Warren would never have described him as irritable or unreasonable per se: maybe just a little bogged down with work like most of the other teachers. He’d never seen him lose it at a student before…

“Nothing happened this morning to make Jefferson lose it?”

Nathan scrunches up his face, thinking carefully.

“Well… I guess I saw him speaking on his phone before class but I wasn’t properly paying attention, Victoria was talking my ear off. Maybe that could’ve been it…? But still, even if something did make him angry this morning it was still weird. It’s hard to explain, but it was like he had a complete personality transplant.”

Warren can’t help thinking that’s pretty ironic coming from Nathan, since it had been just a little more than twenty-four hours ago the Nathan Warren knew would sooner have kicked him in the face than defend him in front of a teacher.

Nathan sighs, his temper fading as he looks over at Warren.

“Anyway, I guess it doesn’t matter really matter now. Warren, are you okay?”

Warren avoids Nathan’s eyes as he considers his answer. The way Nathan is looking at him right now is… quite embarrassing. He preferred Nathan’s anger honestly, at least that was something he’d grown accustomed to back home.

“Yeah, I’m fine- kind of sucks getting into trouble though.”, he sighs, rubbing the back of his neck, frowning as he remembers how short his new haircut is. “But I guess if we can get most of the photography class vouching for us, things will be fine.”

“Suppose…”, Nathan murmurs softly, pondering this point. “But if Logan has the entire football team on his side, things could get complicated…”

The bell for lunch rings and Nathan raises his eyebrows at Warren, smiling expectantly.

“Want to go into town for lunch today, get our minds off this?”

Warren tries to think quickly- the idea of having to spend more time pretending to be Nathan’s boyfriend didn’t exactly appeal to him and he’d already decided he wanted to be on his own this lunchtime to try and think of some solutions to this whole parallel universe situation which was becoming more intolerable by the minute.

“Sorry but I… I’ve got a ton of homework to do this lunchtime so…”

He expects Nathan to ask questions but instead the smile slowly disappears from his face and his shoulders slump dejectedly.

“It’s fine. I… I understand.”, he says sadly, trying to force a smile but instead ending up with a grimace. “I guess I’ll see you…”

Nathan turns to walk away and even though Warren can’t help feeling a little guilty, he concludes it’s probably for the best for now. He didn’t ask to interfere in someone else’s life and the less he had to pretend to be that someone the better.

Warren was trying to open his locker to grab a spare notebook when he remembered that it was very likely a different combination in this universe. He groans, hitting his head against the locker as he thinks of all the passwords and security codes that he’s no longer able to bypass anymore. He’d have to sort all of that out this weekend if it turned out he was really stuck here.

Suddenly two boys playfighting crash into Warren, causing him to stumble. He puts his hands onto his locker for support as his vision suddenly becomes blurrier…

_I feel the shove before I spot the assailant._

_I lose my footing and fall to the ground, putting my hands out to break the fall. I look up at my attacker and am in no way surprised to see Nathan Prescott standing there, a vemenous look on his face, fists clenched tightly. I should’ve expected this sooner or later._

_I’d only been at Blackwell two weeks now and already this guy was making my life hell, at least outside of classes. It hadn’t been so bad the first few days, since Nathan mostly just pretended I didn’t exist anyway, with only the occasional snide comment about my Star Wars memorabilia. He seemed to be like that with most people, since whenever I did see him between classes, he was always alone._

_Even with his own fellow classmates, he’d always just stand on the side-lines writing furiously in his notebook whilst everyone else chatted excitedly amongst themselves. I might’ve felt sorry for him if he didn’t make himself so damn inapproachable. He always had a permanent scowl on his face like the entire world had pissed him off somehow and if anyone did try to start a conversation with him, his answers were non-committal and curt, so people quickly gave up on him. I’d always been taught from a young age to be friendly and open when engaging with people so having to live with someone so standoffish was a challenge for me. Still, at least it was a relatively peaceful (albeit awkward) living situation._

_That all changed after the cafeteria incident._

_I’d been waiting in line for lunch with a bunch of people from the science club I’d recently joined and was chatting good-naturedly with them when I couldn’t help noticing that Nathan was eating his lunch with a lot of the Vortex club members. This surprised me greatly since while Nathan had definitely been trying to suck up to a lot of Blackwell’s royalty the past few days (probably because in his snobbish mind they were the only people worth talking to), it was clear to most people that the only reason the Vortex boys and girls let him tag along was so that they could tease him for their own amusement and make him do odd-jobs for them. It was kind of pathetic honestly._

_James, my chemistry partner, looked over at where I was looking and nodded in understanding. I’d previously complained to him about my unfortunate living situation._

_“Yeah, apparently the Vortex club found out Nathan’s dad is **the** Sean Prescott so they’re trying to be nice to him now. They’re hoping he can get his dad to get the Vortex club some certain favours, like extra funding for parties and stuff, you know?” James laughs. “God, imagine having to use your dad to try and make friends around here?”_

_I blinked, slightly confused._

_“Who’s Sean Prescott?”_

_James looked at me in surprise._

_“You mean you don’t know? Well I guess you did just move here… Sean Prescott is the owner of the Prescott foundation and they’re absolutely rolling in it. They practically own Arcadia Bay, even the school is partly owned by them. Also, Sean’s kind of infamous in Arcadia Bay for being a massive dick and looks like his son…”, James nodded over at Nathan. “… isn’t much different.”_

_This did help to clarify a lot of things I’d noticed about Nathan: his superior attitude, his expensive clothes and gadgets and why I accidentally discovered over five hundred dollars just lying on his desk when I was trying to find my calculator._

_As I started to walk over with my food try to the table where the rest of the Science club was eating, the sound of a loud crash made me look behind me to see Kate Marsh, a very religious girl I’d talked to once in the library, sprawled on the ground, her mashed potatoes and peas splattered all over the floor. Another girl helped Kate get up whilst scowling at the Vortex table, who were all laughing at poor Kate’s predicament. One of the senior students still had his leg stuck out, presumably the one who tripped Kate up, as he high fived his friend, guffawing._

_The senior saw me looking and raised an eyebrow at me._

_“You got a problem kid?”_

_I don’t know what came over me, maybe it was because I saw Kate was now sniffling, maybe because something very similar had happened to me at my old school, but I started walking over to the Vortex table, not exactly sure what I was trying to do. I saw a flash of surprise in the senior’s eyes as I approach but it was only brief- he smirked at me in amusement._

_“What’s the matter? Not my fault your girlfriend’s clumsy.”_

_I breathed in deeply and started talking way more calmly than I actually felt._

_“Apologise to her. Now.”_

_His face darkened but he kept smirking as he looked over at his buddies, rolling his eyes at them. His friends laughed but they seemed confused about what exactly was happening. The guy looked back at me._

_“Go back to your friend’s kid.”, the guy hissed softly, a hint of menace to his voice._

_When I still don’t move, the senior stood up slowly, showing off his full height. I’m tall for my age but this guy was at least two heads taller than me and clearly more athletic. I gulped as he stepped forward, fists raised._

_My big problem is that I don’t often think my actions through very thoroughly. It’s why I often walk into other people’s fights, nearly blind myself during chemical experiments and put my hand up in class when I don’t even know the answer._

_What I’m trying to say is, I do realise it was not a good idea for me to throw my food tray at the guy._

_Luckily for him though, his reflexes were fast as he managed to jump out of the way in time and the tray instead hit Nathan directly in the face, making him groan in pain. He stood up, looking down at himself in horror, his clothes are now splattered with dark brown stains and small bits of meat and peas sliding down his face. The entire cafeteria was watching at this point, as laughter began to erupt around us, which only got louder as Nathan snapped out of his shock and a murderous look grows across his face._

_“I’m going to kill you, you fucking….!”_

_“What on earth is going on here?!”, Miss Grant gasped furiously as she hurried over. She’d been eating at the teachers table and had seemingly not been noticing the drama up until now._

_We all looked at her: the guy who’d tripped Kate was biting the inside of his cheek, trying not to laugh, Kate herself had her hands clasped to her chest, her face bewildered about what just happened, Nathan’s chest was heaving with anger as he stood there covered in stew and I was just frozen, wondering how I’d even managed to mess up this badly._

_When we all remained silent, Miss Grant glowered at all of us and said: “Well?!”_

_Nathan was the first one to pipe up, his face bright red underneath the brown sauce._

_“Warren threw his lunch at me!”_

_“I didn’t mean to!”, I yelped, my voice catching slightly. “I was defending myself!”_

_I only realised how stupid that sounded when it came out my mouth. I heard more titters emerge from the Vortex table._

_“Err… Miss Grant?”, Kate whispered shyly, fingers clasped. “In fairness, I don’t think Warren was aiming at Nathan.”_

_Miss Grant groaned and rubbed her temples in a way that said ‘I’m too old for this crap’ and she gave all four of us a hard look._

_“Nathan, go get yourself cleaned up, you three, in my classroom. Now.”_

_Nathan stomped out the room, more laughter following as he went. He threw one more furious look in my direction before he went out the doors. I follow Miss Grant to her classroom._

_Thankfully Miss Grant did hear me out and while I did get a week’s detention, she said it wasn’t necessary to report to my parents or the head of school so that was fine with me. I did worry about having to face Nathan later though._

_Thankfully though, he wasn’t in our room by the time I get in, but I did notice that the homework I thought I’d finished was no longer lying on my desk. I had a good look around for it even though I knew deep down what had really happened._

_That kept happening the next few days, things would just keep going missing: a pencil case, a book I was reading, an action figure. I knew I probably should’ve told a teacher about it or confronted Nathan, but I worried things might get worse if I tried to get him into trouble. Besides, if his dad was as deep in the school’s pocket as James said he was, he was unlikely to get expelled for petty theft._

_I did ask James for advice about what to do and he suggested trying to get some revenge. While this wasn’t usually an attractive idea to me, my very expensive scientific calculator had recently gone missing and as someone who didn’t rely on having very wealthy parents, it pissed me off._

_I found a large packet of photos Nathan had recently developed for his project and threw them in the trashcan outside the cafeteria._

_Nathan then snapped the heads off some of my favourite action figures._

_I found his fancy headphones and broke the wiring._

_This morning, I’d burst into our room, trying to catch Nathan in the act but once again, he wasn’t there. I looked around suspiciously, trying to see if anything had moved since I last left the room and that’s when I noticed the books on my shelf had shifted a little bit…_

_I ran my finger over all he volumes, nothing appeared to be missing. But then I noticed the placing of my Star War’s 2007 annual had changed._

_My breath hitched as I remember what I kept in that book and I grabbed it from the shelf, opening it to the correct page._

_I felt like crying as I look down at the scraps of paper that used to be a photo of Luke Skywalker, signed by Mark Hamill himself. My Grandad had always been a big Star Wars fan and when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, he had spent an entire year travelling across the country getting the autograph of every living Stars Wars actor, trying to reach his lifetime goal before his body completely shut down on itself._

_He’d given the photo to me on my eleventh birthday, since I’d always loved dressing up as Luke Skywalker when I was little, while Dad would play Han Solo and Grandad would be Chewie, making the appropriate growly noises._

_It’d been the last present he gave me before he died two weeks later…_

_Nathan’s camera was sitting on his desk. I walked over and turned it over in my hands, analysing it. It was expensive-looking like all of Nathan’s things, with a touchscreen and long focal lens. It was heavier than I imagined, it seems a poor fit for Nathan with his scrawny arms and small hands._

_I imagined those hands raking through my bookshelf, finding my photo, tearing it into halves, quarters, then eighths…_

_Suddenly I was slamming down the camera on the desk over and over again, little pieces of metal and plastic flying everywhere, some pieces hitting me in the face._

_When I finally come to my senses, I looked down at the destruction feeling sick. The object that lay on the desk was now unrecognisable as a camera, looking more like a mutilated, metallic monster, what was once a lens looking like a mouth crying for help._

_I ran out the room, as panicked thoughts rushed through my mind: ‘I’m going to get expelled from Blackwell, my parents are going to kill me, why did I do that?? Idiot, idiot, idiot…’_

_I couldn’t think properly for the rest of the school day as I waited to be called out of class, to be marched to Principal Well’s office and told to pack my bags. I could practically see Nathan entering their room right now, his eyes wandering to the remains of his camera, him opening his mouth to scream in anger…_

_Looking up at Nathan now from the floor of the locker room, I almost felt a strange sense of relief as looking up at Nathan’s crazed eyes, his face crimson with rage. At least the waiting was over now, I could get this confrontation over and done with…_

_As I try to get up, Nathan tries to shove me down again, but I dodge and manage to grab onto his wrists- he caught me by surprise the first time, but I’m still way taller and stronger than him, he’s very easy to restrain._

_He’s so angry right now that he can’t even remember how to breathe properly, grunting loudly as he tries to get out of my grasp._

_“FUCK YOU GRAHAM! FUCK YOU! I SWEAR I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!”, Nathan yells, his face now close enough I can feel some of his spit landing on my cheek._

_I suddenly laugh loudly. I can’t help it, I feel slightly delirious. All Nathan reminds me of right now is a little yappy chihuahua, trying to bite at my heels. It’s just so ridiculous. I feel a crowd begin to gather around us and I laugh even harder, thinking what we must look like right now._

_My laughter stops as suddenly Nathan kicks me in the shin, making me yelp and loosen my grasp on his right wrist, letting him break free. His fist goes flying straight into my eye and I groan in pain as half my vison goes fuzzy. Before he can strike again I bring my head forward and head-butt him straight in the nose with a satisfying thwack, hurting my forehead in the process but turning Nathan’s nose into a gushing fountain._

_We both stare at each-other across the hallway, me holding my eye and him wiping a hand across his face, smearing the blood across his mouth. We can hear people chanting but neither of us really listened as we stare at each other and know that all we wanted to do right now was to hurt the other as much as possible._

_We rush towards each other, I get him in a headlock, but he bites my hand to get out of it. He throws a punch at my stomach, slightly winding me but I soon recover and throw a punch at his jaw, making his head snap back. Suddenly he jumps on me, I fall to the ground again and he keeps punching me in the face repeatedly, but I manage to catch his arm and slightly twist it so that he yells in pain. I manage to get myself on top of him but he kicks me between the legs and soon we’re rolling around on the floor, legs and fists flying everywhere, trying to make contact…_

_Suddenly two strong arms grab us by the collars and we both look up to see Miss Grant’s thunderous expression, teeth gritted and eyes wide and furious. She turns to the watching crowd who are looking on entranced by the action._

_“IT IS THE END OF THE SCHOOL DAY, GO TO YOUR DORMS OR YOUR HOMES NOW!!!”, Miss Grant bellows at them, still holding onto me and Nathan, her arms surprisingly muscular under her big sweater._

_As the last few stragglers peter out, she marches me and Nathan into a nearby classroom, closing the firmly door behind her. She folds her arms and gives us the most terrifying gaze I’d ever seen on a human being. Right now, I wasn’t sure if I was about to be expelled or executed._

_I hurt all over but the pain in my left eye is especially sharp, I can barely see through it as it starts swelling up. Through my blurry vision I see Nathan standing beside me, holding onto his still bleeding nose. He looks rough, with heavy bruising all over his face and his previously pristine white shirt now covered in dark red blood stains. His jaw is clenched as he gives Miss Grant a surly look, like he’s daring her to do her worst._

_When Miss Grant finally speak, her tone is low and dangerous, her eyes narrowed in contempt._

_“In all my years of teaching, I’ve never had to break up a fight that bad. Don’t you boys know how easily you could’ve killed each other, going at it like that? Is that how you two deal with your differences, by fighting like a pack of wild animals?_

_‘It’s a bit more than some personal differences…’ I think bitterly but I hold my tongue._

_Miss Grant puts one hand on her hip and slams the other down on the desk, making us both jump._

_“Well?!”, she shouts, her voice echoing in the quiet room. “What on earth happened back there?”_

_My palms sweat nervously but to my surprise Nathan remains silent. Surely this should be his opportunity to tell Miss Grant about the camera? But as I look over, his eyes are tightly closed like he’s trying to hold in tears. Had he even heard what Miss Grant said…?_

_When both of us continue to be silent Miss Grant sighs heavily and starts rubbing her temples in frustration._

_“Well, if you two aren’t going to tell me anything right now, fine but you will both be severely punished. I should take this to Principal Wells…”, we both look up at her in panic. “But he is away right now and quite frankly, I want to be the one to decide the punishment. One that might teach you two to stop killing each other and how to work together.”_

_I gape at Miss Grant in horror. I really don’t like where this is going…_

_“So…”, Miss Grant says, bending down to write down both our names on a large sheet of paper. “I am assigning you two to build the solar system model for the parent-student day next month. I will give you a budget and you two will be in this classroom everyday after school for two hours, working on this until it is finished, and I am happy with it. I am sure with Warren’s scientific knowledge and your flare for the arts Mr Prescott, you two will be able to make something acceptable. If…”, Miss Grant raises a stern finger as we look like we’re about to protest. “If you two are unable to work with each other, I will have no choice but to report you both to Principal Wells and your parents.”_

_“That’s not fair Miss!”, Nathan shouts angrily, putting his hand to his nose again as another dribble of blood flows down his face._

_“Quite frankly I don’t want to hear it Mr Prescott.”, Miss Grant snaps bluntly. “Now go to the school nurse and get yourselves cleaned up.”_

_“What-fucking-ever…”, Nathan mutters bitterly as he stomps out of the room before Miss Grant can reprimand him for his language. She looks over at me and raises an eyebrow._

_“Was there something else you wanted to say Warren?”_

_I shift my feet awkwardly as I try to do the best sorrowful face I can manage. Maybe I can convince her…_

_“Please Miss Grant, I’m not going to be able to get anything done with him, he hates my guts. I’ll do anything else…”_

_“I’m sorry Warren.”, Miss Grant says firmly. “But I really think it’ll be good for you two to get past your differences. Both of you are exceptional students who can do great work if you both have your heads screwed on straight. Also, quite frankly… I think Nathan has a thing or two to learn from you about getting on with people.”_

_I am confused by this since I’d never thought of myself as a people-person: I’d never had that many friends and while I always tried to be friendly when meeting new people, I always managed to make things awkward. Besides even if I was good at that kind of thing, I definitely didn’t want to be helping Nathan Prescott with anything._

_As I walk down the hallways of Blackwell, I think how less than two weeks ago I’d been so excited to be here as I walked down these same hallways with my parents, thinking how much better it would be than my old school, that I could turn over a new leaf._

_Instead my life was hell thanks to my psychotic roommate._

_I just want to go home…_

Warren puts a hand to my head as he’s suddenly brought back to reality.

Geez, were these flashbacks going to keep happening this frequently or what? They made him feel so disoriented…

The Nathan he’d seen in this flashback was like a smaller, scrawnier version of the one back home, right down to the violent tendencies. How on earth had him and other-Warren ever developed a friendly relationship, never mind a romantic one, from those first impressions?

Warren felt his heart twinge a bit as he realised his grandad’s signed photo had been destroyed in this universe, rather than in his bookcase as it had always been. His grandad had died over seven years ago, but it still hurt Warren to think about. Him and his grandad had had a close bond due to their equally geeky tendencies and their love of movies. When he’d died, it had felt like Warren had lost a huge chunk of his soul and it had taken months before he even felt like smiling again.

He couldn’t blame other-Warren for the way he’d reacted: if he was being honest with himself, he might’ve done worse. He could still feel the second-hand anger from his vision…

Shaking himself, Warren started heading quickly for the library.

He had a lot he needed to think about.


	6. Pancakes

Warren had been sat in the diner for about twenty minutes and was now looking wistfully out the window at the setting sun as it cast a warm, orange glow over the sea.

After detention with Miss Grant, he’d suddenly had a craving for a more familiar environment and since his old room was now out of the question, he’d settled for Arcadia Bay’s only diner: the greasy floors and even greasier food were just as he remembered and even the tired-looking but smiley waitress was still here. Warren didn’t have much money on him, so he’d settled on ordering two rashers of bacon and a weak coffee, which he was drinking the dregs of right now. He knew he’d be asked to leave soon if he didn’t order anything else, but he continued to look over his notes, ignoring the manger’s pointed glare.

Warren had got a lot done over his lunch break and even though he still hadn’t thought up any solutions to his problems, it felt good to write them down. Warren’s eyes scanned over the first page again:

_Time of event: 10:05-10:10am (NO LATER)_

_Max walked in first, Nathan followed soon after, then blue haired girl (name??)_

_Max: relaxed, listening to music_

_Nathan: irrational, talking to himself, concealing gun in jacket_

_Girl: angry, looked both ways before entering, needed to meet someone??_

_I started to walk down hallway, shot was heard when I reached bathroom_

_Shot would’ve been about 30 seconds after blue-haired girl entered bathroom_

_Girl was shot, shot by Nathan (gun by his feet), Max was a witness_

_WHERE IT GETS WEIRDER??_

_Bathroom started to distort, stretch_

_Weird voice_

_Smell of blood (body?)_

_Blackness_

_PARALLEL UNIVERSE_

_Felt very nauseous, tired (possible causes??)_

_Clock said 9:50 (time went backwards?)_

_Miss Grant asks slightly different question_

_No one entered bathroom…_

The notes continued like this for several more pages and Warren had been going through all them for the last twenty minutes, highlighting what he considered the most important sections. Once he had them all organised in a coherent manner, perhaps he’d be able to think up some possible theories on how he’d be able to get back to his own universe or at the very least attempt to explain what had happened to him.

As he spared another glance out the window, he noticed a waifish girl in a thin jacket and jeans crossing the road, nearly walking under a car in the process as she seemed lost in her own world.

Warren jumped with a start as he suddenly recognised her: he watched her as she entered the diner and nodded over at the waitress with a weak smile. Maxine Caufield wasn’t crying today but she still didn’t look quite herself and it wasn’t just the longer hair: she had dark circles under her eyes from what looked like a lack of sleep and she walked with a slight hunch, like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. Warren watched her as she sat down in a booth, facing away from him and glanced dreamily out the window, her fingers tapping the table absentmindedly. Evidently, she either hadn’t spotted or recognised him.

Warren fidgeted as he tried to decide if he should approach her or not: after all, what would be the point? She only knew him as that weird guy that started spouting gibberish in her face the other day. However, it was hard to choose to just leave the diner now. Even though he had accepted this was no longer his universe, he still couldn’t help seeing his friend in this Max and it was so tempting to go up to her now, try to talk to her like old times…

Suddenly Max looked over her shoulder and freezes as she sees Warren sitting there. He panics.

‘ _Oh God, what if she thinks I’m following her, she already thinks I’m kind of crazy, should I just leave…?’_

But to Warren’s surprise, Max exits her booth and slowly walks towards him, an unreadable look on her face. She points at the seat opposite Warren.

“Mind if I sit here?”

Warren shrugs and Max takes this as an affirmative answer, as she sits herself down, continuing to study Warren carefully. Warren can’t help feeling nervous. Was she here to tell him to leave her alone or ask why he’d been acting like a nutjob yesterday?

The waitress comes over, notebook in hand.

“Would you be liking the usual Max?”

“Yes, thanks Joyce.”, Max says softly, smiling up at her. It appeared that they were familiar with each other.

“And for your friend?”, Joyce asks, raising a curious eyebrow at Warren. He blushes. Did she think he and Max were…?

“He’ll have a coffee.”, Max says firmly, nodding over at him. “That alright?”

“I…I’m fine with nothing, I don’t really have enough money on me…”, Warren stutters nervously, fidgeting with his fingers. What on earth was Max doing?

“That’s fine I’ll pay.”, Max says, taking out a couple of notes and handing them over to Joyce. “Thanks Joyce, keep the change.”

“Thanks Max, your food will be here in a minute hun…”, Joyce says, suddenly glowering towards the kitchen. “That is, if our new chef hasn’t decided to take another unscheduled cigarette break…”

As Joyce hurries away with their order, Max once again turns back to Warren to give him a steady glare, it felt like she was trying to analyse him. Why, he wasn’t sure.

“You…uh… didn’t have to do that. I can pay you back tomorrow if you…”

“What do you know about what happened to Kate Marsh?”

Warren blinked at her. He hadn’t been expecting that.

When Warren just continued to look on at Max dumbfounded, she sighed and uncrossed her arms like she’d been disappointed with his reaction.

“It’s just that…”, she whispers, head lowered. “Yesterday you asked me if I’d seen anything unusual at school that morning. And I was honest when I said I hadn’t noticed anything. But then I started thinking… maybe what you were talking about was connected to what happened the night before.”

Warren frowns- the more Max kept talking the less sense she was making.

“I’m sorry…  I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Warren says, then suddenly something she said suddenly clicks. “Wait you said… something happened to Kate Marsh? Is she alright? What happened?”

Max just looks on sadly at him, the determination and curiosity she’d had approaching his table suddenly diminishing.

“So you really don’t know…”

“Max…”, he says determinately, putting a hand on one of her arms then immediately removing it when he remembered he was basically a stranger to her here. “Please tell me what happened, I don’t know of what happened to me relates or not but I might be able to help…”

“Umm… here’s your order you two.”

Both Max and Warren jump as they turn to see Joyce standing there with a tray containing a steaming coffee, a hot chocolate (with more than enough whipped cream) and a small pile of pancakes with a little thing of maple syrup on the side. Joyce laid the food out on the table and hurried away, clearly embarrassed to have been listening in to their weird conversation.

Max starts cutting up her pancakes as Warren waits for her to say something else, but she seems a little lost in her own world again as she pours the syrup on, acting like Warren hadn’t even asked her a question. When she does finally look up at him again, she just points down at her pancakes and asks: “Do you want some?”

Warren feels like he’s about to scream.

“Max…”, Warren growls, gritting his teeth. “What-happened-to-Kate-Marsh?”

Max just sighs and looks out the window again.

“I’m sorry…”, she murmurs, her eyes vacant. “I shouldn’t have approached you like this, I was being stupid. I thought you could help me, but I just misunderstood.”

Warren had had enough of her vagueness.

“When you were ten, your friend accidentally broke your arm while you were both playing pirates, but you told everyone you’d done it yourself to get her out of trouble. You got your first camera when you were five. Your parents originally wanted to call you Rachel but decided on Max when your grandmother Maxine died a month before you were born.”

Warren had wanted to get her attention and he had certainly now got it. Max was looking at him with wide-eyed horror, but soon collected herself as a suspicious scowl grew across her features.

“How the hell do you know all that!”, Max hissed aggressively, glancing over to make sure Joyce was still watching and could save her from a potential stalker.

“I tell you my story, you tell me yours.”, Warren says leaning back, trying to sound assertive while inwardly worrying Max might call the police any minute.

Max eyes him, her expression still furious but he could see a bit of curiosity brewing again.

“Maybe you’re just a creepy stalker.”

“Maybe I am, but you won’t know unless you tell me about Kate Marsh.”

Warren watches Max as she inwardly battles with herself about how she should proceed with this strange meeting, but curiosity seems to win out as she lays her hands on the table and mutters: “You first.”

Warren shakes his head. He knows if he’s one-hundred percent honest with her there’s no way she’ll stick around long enough to tell him her story.

“You first. Or I walk.”

Max gives him a dirty look as she takes another bite of her pancakes, but she seems to be contemplating his deal. Finally, she shrugs.

“Fine. But you better be honest with me afterwards.”

She takes a sip of her hot chocolate to clear her throat and begins.

“Me and my friend Chloe were out the other night and we… well, we got into an argument. It doesn’t really matter what it was about. But anyway, she wandered off back home and I just started to wander around, trying to blow off some steam, you know? Anyway, I made it all the way to the junkyard and suddenly I heard something. I thought it might be Chloe because the junkyard is usually a meeting place for us and that maybe she wanted to apologise or something but…”

Max breathed in deeply; she was a bit misty eyed now and seemed to be talking to herself more than Warren at this point. It was clear there was a lot she needed to get off her chest.

“Anyway…”, Max says, rubbing her eye. “I started trying to find the source of the noise and… I saw this guy. It looked like he was digging, and I took a closer look and I saw he had a large bag by his feet.  I don’t know what I thought it was, but I could tell even from a distance that the guy was seriously panicking, I think he may’ve even been on something from the sounds he was making. I just wanted to get out of there, but he heard me moving and the guy started running at me. I didn’t have much time to think, so I took the gun out and fired at him…”

“Wait, what?!”, Warren gasps in shock. “You own a gun?!”

Max groans as she realises her mistake.

“You’d better not tell anyone!”, she hisses, her eyes darting towards Joyce. “Besides it wasn’t really my gun, I was going to get rid of it…  anyway, that’s not the point! Of course, I completely missed him but the shot scared him enough to make him run off and he left his bag behind. So, I looked in it since I figured it would just be stolen goods or something and…”

Max cut herself off as her voice begins to tremble and her hands start to shake. Her eyes well up and Warren can’t help thinking, despite how much she’d been annoying him before, how he really wanted to hug her right now and make sure she was okay, but he restrained himself. After all, not only now did she think of him as a stranger, but also a potential stalker.

After taking a deep breath and wiping her eyes, Max continued.

“So, I looked inside the bag and there was… Kate Marsh.”, Max’s voice tremors as Warren opens his eyes even wider in horror. “But she wasn’t moving, and her pulse was very weak. I bet the bastard didn’t even check for a pulse.”, she adds bitterly.

 “Oh my God.”, Warren breathes sharply, feeling a little sick.  “Is Kate okay? Where is she?”

“In hospital, thankfully I managed to get a signal and an ambulance came as quick as it could. It was… horrible. Her face was blue, and she was… so cold.” Max shivers at the memory. “I came with her in the ambulance and they managed to get her heart beating normally again but it wasn’t enough. They had to pump her stomach all night because she had a tonne of drugs in her system. She’s so lucky she’s still alive.”

“Alive?”, Warren asks urgently. While he was never a good friend of Kate’s back in his own universe, he knew she was one of the sweetest people at Blackwell, always having a nice word to say to everyone. The idea that someone like her could’ve died such a horrific death in this universe would be too much for him to handle. “So, she’ll be alright then?”

“I…I don’t know.”

Max can’t contain herself anymore as real proper sobs start to break through. Warren hands over some napkins and she dabs at her eyes, sobs slowly downgrading to heavy breathing. Warren once again swallows down the urge to hug her.

“I’m… I’m sorry.”, Max managed to get out in between large gulps of air.

“You have nothing to be sorry about.”, he says as he tentatively places a hand on her arm. “What you went through was awful, there’s no shame in being upset about it.”

Max scrunches up the napkin in her fist and screws her eyes shut.

“They couldn’t tell me anything.”, Max says, her voice low. “Just that she’s stable now but she still isn’t awake yet and they couldn’t tell me when she’d wake up, if she was going to get any worse, if she’s going to suffer from any brain damage after being in a coma…”

Max looks up at Warren, her face red and patchy from the tears but she seemed a bit more controlled now as she continues to speak:

“I know I shouldn’t have gone into school the next day.”, Max whispers softly. “But I just wanted to pretend for a bit, you know? That everything was normal but… then I got to photography class and Kate wasn’t there… and that was then I just broke down completely. Mr Jefferson sent everyone out five minutes early and he tried to ask me what was wrong, but I just couldn’t tell him. Then he had to go outside because people were making a lot of noise about something and that’s when… I saw you.”

Warren flushed as her gaze on him grew more intense, her eyes wide and slightly red from crying.

“Then you started asking me about stuff… like you thought you knew me but I was so sure I didn’t recognise you. I thought you were just crazy but then your questions kept coming back to me and I couldn’t help thinking… that maybe when you asked if I’d noticed anything strange you were talking about the Kate Marsh incident. That maybe you knew something, like why anyone would try to hurt her…”

Max was looking up at him hopefully now, but Warren had to shake his head sadly, feeling guilty that he’d gotten her hopes up.

“I didn’t even know Kate was missing before today. I’m really sorry.”

Max sighs to herself.

“It’s fine. I shouldn’t have come to conclusions like that. It’s just that… I’m really tired right now and I just want answers…”, Max takes a long drink from her hot chocolate and looks up to give Warren a strange look.

“I… I don’t understand why I told you all this. Like I know I agreed to, but I got a little carried away there. I promise you I’m not usually like this but… I guess it was just a bit much, keeping all that to myself. After all,…”, Max sighs, poking at her remaining pancakes, looking like she’s about to cry again. “Who else have I got to talk to right now?”

Warren doesn’t ask her what she means by that, he doesn’t want to upset her again. He does, however, want to make sure she’s safe right now.

“This guy at the junkyard… did he see your face?”

Max looks up at him in confusion.

“I… I don’t think so. It was dark and raining pretty hard, I had my hood up. Why are you ask…?”, Max pales as she suddenly realises. “You… you think he might try something?”

Warren does his best to be reassuring.

“It’s unlikely if the police are now on the lookout for a killer, and there’s probably going to be extra security around Blackwell once the police inform them about Kate. Plus, like you said, it would’ve been almost impossible for him to recognise you under those conditions. You’ll be fine.”

Max doesn’t look convinced as she chews on her last pancake, eyebrows furrowed. She sets her knife and fork down and crosses her arms, her face now wearing the same determined look it had before. She raises her eyebrows at him.

“Well, I held up my end of the bargain. Your turn now. How do you know so much about me?”

Warren starts sweating in panic. What on earth could he say? Max had just poured out her heart to him about her horrific experience and he was supposed to start talking about science-fiction mumbo-jumbo like parallel universes?

When Warren says nothing, Max scowls at him and stands, making her way out of the booth.

“You know what, fuck you. I can’t believe I talked to you about all that stuff…”

“Max, wait!”, Warren yelps, as he grabs her arm to stop her from leaving. “I promise I’ll tell you everything!”

Max takes a seat again, albeit hesitantly and with a scowl still on her face.

Warren breathes in deeply:

“Look…”, he whispers, glancing around to make sure no-one is paying attention to them right now. “I’m going to tell you why I was acting weird yesterday but I’m going to warn you now, it sounds absolutely crazy and you might not believe it so you’ve got to promise you’ll keep on listening, no matter how bullshit it sounds, okay?”

Max shrugs her shoulders and Warren interprets this as good a promise as any.

“Yesterday morning, I was on my way back to my dorms after Chemistry class when I saw three people walk into the girl’s bathroom: Nathan Prescott, a blue-haired girl and you.” Max opens her mouth like she wants to say something, but Warren holds up a hand to shush her. “Don’t worry, I’ll explain in a minute. Anyway, I heard a shot coming from the girl’s bathroom and I went in to investigate. When I went in, I saw that the blue-haired girl had been shot and Nathan had a gun by his feet and that’s when… things got weird.”

“Oh, that’s when things got weird…”, he heard Max mutter sarcastically, but he opted to ignore her and carried on.

“It was like… the entire room started to warp, everything went dark and suddenly I was back in Chemistry class, like time had suddenly gone backwards. Except some things had changed, like the question Miss Grant asked in class was slightly different, my hair was shorter, and my clothes weren’t the ones I put on that morning. Most importantly, no shooting happened.”

Max was speechless as she looks on at Warren, disbelief etched into her features. Warren took advantage of her muteness and continued.

“So anyway, more crazy stuff happened and eventually I eventually realised- I wasn’t in my own universe anymore. I mean, it’s similar but there’s so much that’s different, like how we’re not friends anymore, hell, you don’t even recognise me. And…”

“Stop!”, Max shouts, slamming her hands down on the table. She stands up and looks down at him, glowering. She looks seriously pissed off right now.

“I can’t believe I opened up to you and you just… just… decided to make fun of me! What kind of sick freak are you?!”

Warren just gapes, cursing at himself for being so stupid. Did he really think she was just going to sit down there and listen to his crazy story and not think he was a malicious liar?

Max grabs her small camera bag and scowls down at him.

“Screw you.”, she spits, turning to storm out the diner.

“Max, wait!”, Warren shouts desperately, running after her. “Let me explain…”

Suddenly a large boom makes them both stop in their tracks as they both turn to look out the window. What had been a mellow sunset ten seconds ago was now a darkly cast, grey sky, with thunderous booms emitting from a monstrous cloud. Warren opens his mouth in shock and Max raises an eyebrow as she watches the cloud grow rapidly bigger across the sea line.

“I don’t understand, it was fine a minute ago…”, she whispers, walking towards the window slowly. She jumps back as suddenly, without warning, massive droplets of rain suddenly start pounding at the window, coming thick and fast, almost like monsoon weather.

Warren looks behind him and sees Joyce stood there, frozen, two coffee cups in his hand as she also stares out at the carnage going on outside.

“What in the hell…?”

Joyce is interrupted as suddenly a white flash of light beams out at them from the parking lot. Max backs away from the window, shaking. A few seconds later another white flash strikes the window and the glass shatters, causing Max to grab onto Warren’s arm, screaming…

And then suddenly there’s silence. The rain’s stopped and the sky is clear, with only a few streaky clouds left to block the sunset’s soft orange rays. The only evidence left of what had just happened was that the ground outside was now soaking wet and the gaping hole in the diner wall where there had once been a window. Shattered glass is sprinkled across the floor and plumes of smoke rise up from the window pane.

Max lets go of Warren and walks timidly towards the devastation.

“Holy shit…”, she breathes, coughing as she accidentally breathing in some smoke. “If I hadn’t moved away from the window I might be…”

Max shivers as she doesn’t bother to end her sentence. Warren is staring at the sky, his brain working furiously to try and comprehend what he just saw.

“There’s no way thunder and lightning should’ve happened today, the air temperature and pressure’s too low and it usually doesn’t last only thirty seconds. And lightning striking twice within ten feet of each other? That’s nearly impossible…”

“Are you two alright?”, Joyce asks, putting her hands on their shoulders, looking distressed as she looks over at the destruction. Warren feels sorry for her since he can’t imagine she’d get much help clearing all this up.

“We’re fine Joyce.”, Max says, still staring at the gap in the wall. She looks over her shoulder at Joyce and asks sympathetically: “Do you want us to help you clean up Joyce? I could…”

“No, no.”, Joyce says firmly, walking carefully over the glass to open the door for them. “You two get yourselves back to school now, before any more freaky weather starts up. And Max…”, she says, nodding at her. “Please give me a message when you do get back safe.”

As they both walked through the parking lot together in silence, Warren noticed what looked like a scorch mark near one of the big trucks that must’ve been from the other flash of lightning. Warren kept frowning to himself- many laws of physics had just been broken and he didn’t like it. Parallel universes he could almost take because it was a huge well of untapped potential research but that freaky thunderstorm? He doubted any scientist could’ve explained that behaviour. He looked forward to reading about it in the news soon.

Max remained quiet until they reached the bus stop. As they sat down together, she turns towards him, her face stoic and unreadable.

“What you said back there in the diner… about being from a parallel universe.”, she says softly, looking him straight in the eyes this time. “Were you telling the truth?”

Warren nods. Max looks out to sea, where the thunder cloud had been.

“So, did that… did whatever just happened have anything to do with you?”

Warren just shrugs.

“It’s possible…”, he says slowly. “But in all honesty, I have no idea. All I know is I saw someone get shot and the next minute I was here and I have no idea how to get home and…”

Warren has to look away as he feels the pinpricks of tears stinging his eyes. It had been a long day emotionally and he hated when he had to remind himself of home and how he might be stuck here forever.

When he does look back at Max, for the first time since he met her yesterday, she gives him an empathetic smile and squeezes his hand gently.

“I’m sorry to hear about that. But maybe I could help you?”

“How?”, he asks confusedly. Sure, it was great he now had someone who believed him but what could Max do? Her skinny little arms weren’t exactly strong enough to punch a hole through reality.

“There… there was something I didn’t tell you back at the diner. I thought you might think I was crazy but hey…”, she says, splaying her hands out. “We’re talking about parallel universe’s now, so how much weirder could it get?”

Warren had to agree with her there.

“The last few days… I kept getting this feeling that something bad was going to happen. I know that all people say that after they’ve something terrible happens, like ‘Oh I knew something was going to happen, I could feel it in the air’, but I’m telling you it wasn’t like that. It was just like… I didn’t know what would happen, but I just knew the day was drawing closer.”

She sighs to herself and adds quietly: “It was no accident I wandered into the junkyard that night… it was like it was calling to me, that I needed to be there… do you understand what I mean?”

Warren considers the question carefully.

“No… but I do believe you. I don’t know if it’s got anything to do with my problem but maybe we can work on this together, see if there’s any connection?”

Max smiles.

“Yeah, I’d like that. You have no idea what it’s been like, trying to keep this to myself…”

Suddenly Max stops talking as her phone buzzes and she looks down to see the sender. She pales.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry, I have to go but I promise I’ll try to meet you again soon. Tomorrow maybe?”

Warren nods, deciding not to pry too much about the text message since he’d only just managed to earn her trust. Best to tread carefully.

As Max got up and waved goodbye she suddenly frowned to herself.

“I just realised… I never asked your name.”

Warren smiled sadly- even though it wasn’t her fault of course, it still hurt a bit that his friend Max in this universe still hadn’t learnt his name after months of being at the same school together.

“Warren. Warren Graham.”

Max’s eye widened in surprise.

“ _The_ Warren Graham? Nathan’s roommate?”

Warren flushes at that description- were her and Nathan friendly in this universe?

“How well do you know him Max?”

“What, Nathan?”, she asks, pondering the question. “Well, he seems like a nice enough guy I guess, takes good photos. I’ll be perfectly honest, he’s the last person I’d imagine shooting someone in the school bathroom.”

She glances over at him, seemingly trying to watch for his reaction. Warren just grunts and says: “Like I said, things are different in this universe.”

Max bites her lip and waits about like she’s debating about whether to say something or not. She clears her throat.

“I hear you two are very… close.”

Warren groans to himself- God, how many people at this school knew about him and Nathan? He suspected Nathan and other-Warren were still in the closet but how discrete about the relationship had they been really?

Max is waiting for him to respond. He gives her a hard stare.

“Don’t believe everything you hear.”

Max nods, embarrassed. She says goodbye and runs away, clearly in a rush to get somewhere.

Warren sits back, thinking about the last strange couple of days when suddenly a white van parked to the right of him caught his eye. Someone had recently graffitied the vehicle and Warren didn’t want to be here when the owner discovered their van’s new decoration.

What caught his eyes however were the large, jagged blue letters that read:

‘ _THE STORM IS COMING.’_

Warren frowned to himself. What was this the third time now? It couldn’t be coincidence…

“Hey kid! You getting on or just watching the world go by?”

Warren jumps as he realises the bus has arrived and sees the driver pointing at his watch impatiently. He gets on, reminding himself he’d better sort out his bank details this weekend since he now owed Max a coffee…  


 

 

 

 

 

 


	7. Planets

When Warren finally gets back to the dorm rooms, he finds everyone still chatting excitedly about the sudden freak weather. A few guys shout at him as he passes:

“Hey Warren! Can the Science Club explain what happened just then?”

Warren shrugs.

“We’re working on it.”, he calls behind him, unlocking the door to his room.

 _His room._ Still seemed weird.

Inside he found Nathan sitting cross legged on his bed, looking intently down at his camera screen. He smiles as Warren walks in, uncrossing his legs and walking over.

“Hey!”, Nathan says brightly, looking like he might be going in for a hug but stopping himself when Warren stiffens. His smile wavers.

“I… erm…”, Nathan mumbles, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “I was worried about you out there. There were lightning strikes all over town, I even managed to get a good picture…”

Nathan brought over his camera and started scrolling through his photos, stopping at the correct point and showing it to Warren. On the screen was a picture of what he presumed was the silhouette of a large oak tree, the background completely lit up by a lightning flash. Nathan scrolled further and the top of the tree was now on fire, despite the obvious rainfall going on in the photo. In the next photo, the only evidence it had been taken the same day as the other two was the fire that had now spread further along the branches, bright red flames clashing with the orange sunset now going on in the background. It was a decent documentation of this evening’s strange events.

Nathan lowered the camera.

“Weird right? One minute everything was fine and the next minute, some kind of biblical shit. Where were you at the time?”

Warren decided to be honest.

“The diner. I err… met someone and we were chatting before the thunderstorm started. One of the lightning strikes broke a window actually.”

Nathan gapes at Warren in shock.

“Jesus, are you okay?! That close to the actual diner…?!”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”, Warren murmurs, brushing off the hand Nathan had just laid on his shoulder. “I’m more upset by the fact I don’t know how to explain what happened, honestly.”

Nathan grins at that.

“Yeah, that would be the part that upsets you nerd…”, Nathan  says, chuckling to himself. Suddenly he frowns, looking over at Warren curiously. “You said you were meeting someone at the diner? Who?”

Warren shuffled his feet uncomfortably but decided to try and continue to be as honest as he could. After all Max was in Nathan’s class: it would be pretty awkward if Nathan found out about their meeting through her.

“I wasn’t really planning on meeting her but… I saw Max Caufield and we just started chatting, you know?”

“Max Caufield? From photography class?”, Nathan asks, his eyes widening in surprise. “I mean I saw you run after her yesterday but I didn’t know you knew her that well. Is she okay? I mean, she seemed a bit better today, but she still seemed a little troubled. I wanted to say something to her, but she left the classroom pretty quickly.”

“Well…”, Warren ponders about how much he can tell this Nathan. He didn’t really seem like a gossip but a lot of what Max had told him had seemed pretty personal.

Then again though, Nathan knew Kate Marsh too. Maybe he knew something …

“I think she just needed someone to talk to because she’s been through a lot the past couple of days… with Kate Marsh and all, you know?” Warren observes Nathan’s face carefully but the only reaction he gets is a rather confused look. “I guess sometimes someone you don’t know too well is easier to talk to about that kind of stuff.”

“Wait what are you… what was that about Kate Marsh?” Nathan’s face suddenly goes pale as a sudden though occurs to him. “Does this have anything to do with why she hasn’t been in class the past couple of days? I figured she must just have a cold or something.”

Warren sighed deeply. Nathan clearly didn’t know anything but it was too late to turn back now.

“Max… found Kate in the junkyard. She was about to be buried alive by someone but he scarpered when he spotted Max. She managed to call an ambulance for Kate and she’s in the hospital now but apparently she’s still in pretty bad shape, she still hasn’t woken up yet. Whoever did this to her had put a tonne of drugs into her system, possibly trying to kill her.”

Nathan’s eyes widen with horror.

“Oh my God…” he says, putting a hand over his mouth. “Are you being serious? Someone tried to kill Kate? Why would they?”

“I… I don’t know.”, Warren stutters, feeling a little sick as he recalled how distressed Max had been that afternoon. He thought about how scared Kate must have been, abused by a strange man and nearly left to die… he shivers.

“Shit…”, Nathan whispers. He walks shakily over to his bed and sits down. He puts his head in his hands.

Warren blinks in surprise. Sure, Nathan seemed like a nice enough guy here but it was still weird to see someone wearing his face being so… sensitive. He wondered if Kate had been a good friend to Nathan in this universe…. he quickly shakes himself for thinking about Kate in the past tense.

Hesitantly, Warren walks over and sits delicately down next to Nathan. He’s not sure what he can do right now but Warren hated seeing anyone upset. Nathan was unnaturally still and didn’t even seem to notice him sitting down beside him. Warren placed a tentative hand on his shoulder.

Nathan looks over at him: his eyes are dry but dazed, like he was still trying to comprehend this new information.

“Sorry…”, Nathan sighs, rubbing his temples like they hurt. “It’s just that… I don’t like thinking about it. Kate’s one of the nicest people I know: why would someone do that to her?”

“Nathan…”, Warren asks intently, looking straight into his eyes. “Did you notice anything two days ago, like anyone hanging about the school, someone acting weird?”

Nathan thinks for a minute.

“I don’t think so…”, he says slowly, eyebrows furrowed. Suddenly his eyes widen. “Wait! I think Kate mentioned something about… the Vortex party? That she wanted to check it out or something since it was her last year here? I remember thinking it was kind of strange coming from her but I wasn’t fully paying attention. It was a group conversation and I was busy touching up my portfolio. So maybe she did actually go and that had something to do with it?”

Warren contemplates this.

“It’s possible… those events aren’t exactly well chaperoned, just one teacher usually. It would be pretty easy for someone to get in there unnoticed.”

“I could ask Victoria if she feels like speaking to me right now, she’s always at those parties. Maybe she saw Kate there…”, Nathan pauses, his face lined with worry. “Warren- how is Kate? Is she going to be alright?”

Warren tries to think of something reassuring but as he looks into Nathan’s eyes, he realises he can’t bring himself to lie.

“I don’t know. Max didn’t exactly know much either. But I’m sure they’re doing everything they can at the hospital.”

Nathan nods, staring off at the far wall. He’s being unnervingly silent right now and Warren really doesn’t like it: he wasn’t great at reading people at the best of times and he was especially crap at comforting people. He had no idea what to do right now.

Warren suddenly realises he still has his hand on Nathan’s shoulder and he’s about to move it when he hesitates. Nathan was clearly upset right now, and Warren wasn’t helping things by continuing to be distant. He’d been doing his best to avoid Nathan as much as possible today and it wasn’t like that’d gone totally unnoticed by him. He didn’t like the feeling he was adding to someone’s stress, even if he was one of his worst enemies in another universe. Besides, the last thing he wanted was Nathan being suspicious about his recent behaviour.

He puts his arm around Nathan’s shoulder, causing him to stiffen in surprise but he quickly relaxes, leaning against Warren. Warren thinks to himself that this isn’t too bad: if he does have to pretend to be someone’s boyfriend, an arm around someone’s shoulder, the occasional hug wouldn’t be too demanding. He’d managed to find an ally in Max so who knows? Maybe she’d have a unique perspective on this whole alternate reality business and they could get this universe’s Warren back in no time.

Nathan raises his head from Warren’s shoulder and turns his head to look at him, his eyes half-closed. Warren waits for him to say something but instead Nathan brings his face closer, stopping himself as their noses were practically touching. He gazes at Warren, as if waiting for confirmation that it’s okay to continue.

Warren feels his heartbeat quicken, thinking back to yesterday morning. Could he really let himself do this? Nathan had taken him by surprise yesterday, but maybe now he was ready for it, he could close his eyes, pretend it was someone else…?

Warren slowly brought his face forward and felt his lips lightly brush against Nathan’s. He can see Nathan’s eyes brighten but he’s still cautious as he starts kissing Warren, putting his hand on the back of his neck- it’s a lot softer and slower than yesterdays, only a little less chaste than a peck on the cheek.

Warren can feel his brain grow a little fuzzy as Nathan’s lips move against his own- it was the same feeling he’d gotten yesterday when he first walked into this room: familiar yet completely foreign to him somehow. Of course, he’d had some experience with kissing back in his own universe but something about this just seemed so much more… intimate. Nathan’s fingers brushed the back of his neck delicately in a way that felt kind of nice and he seemed to sense Warren was nervous as the pecks become even lighter, lips barely brushing.

Nathan is the first to pull away, a little flushed and dazed looking. His eyes are still a little troubled but there is a small ghost of a smile on his lips.

“Thanks… I err…”, he stutters, looking towards his desk where several papers are laid out. “I’d… better get back to my essay now. Storm distracted me, you know…”

Warren nods, feeling a little disconcerted that he hadn’t hated kissing Nathan that time. Sure, it’d still been awkward from his perspective, but he’d be lying to himself if he said Nathan wasn’t a good kisser. Then again, he supposed he got a lot of practice with other-Warren.

As Nathan sits down at his desk he calls behind him: “Do you reckon the hospital will let friends of Kate know how she’s doing?”

“Not sure honestly…”, Warren calls back, bending over to pull out some boxes from underneath his bed. “They might tell Max since she found her so maybe you could ask her.”

Nathan glances over curiously.

“Are you looking for something?”

“No! Well actually… don’t suppose you remember where I left my banking details?”, Warren asks, trying to sound casual about it. “Just that I need to open up a new account and there’s certain documents I need to bring with me.”

Nathan glances around the room, scratching the back of his head.

“Geez, I don’t know… try that folder on the bookshelf maybe? I know you keep a lot of papers in there?”

Warren looks at where Nathan is pointing, spotting the large, blue folder. He takes it down from the shelf and starts flicking through: passport details, school letters, receipts…

“Aha!”, he thinks triumphally, pulling out a piece of paper concerning a new debit card, dated only last year. He scans the back of it, when suddenly he spots four numbers scrawled in tiny letters in what looked like his handwriting. He writes it down quickly, praying it’s the correct number.

While he’s at it… he tries to think what one of the security questions had been when he tried to change the password on his laptop yesterday. _Marie’s maiden name…?_ He still had no idea who that was meant to be, a distance relation maybe?

“Hey Nathan…”

“Yeah?”, Nathan mutters, not looking up from his writing.

“Do you know Marie’s maiden name?”

That gets his attention. Nathan looks back at Warren in disbelief.

“Are you being serious?”

Warren thinks carefully about his response.

“Yes.”

Nathan widens his eyes, baffled.

“Okay, let me reiterate: Warren, are you feeling okay?”

“Nathan, would you just tell me?”, Warren grumbles in annoyance.

“Bertrand. Her maiden name is Bertrand.”, Nathan says, watching Warren’s face carefully. “Is this a joke I’m just not getting?”

“No! I just had a brain fart you know? I couldn’t think…”, Warren says as he hurriedly opens up his laptop and types the name into the security question.

Nathan looks unconvinced, but Warren has little time to care as suddenly he is given the option to update his password. He grins to himself. _Finally._

After choosing his hometown as the password, Warren logged himself in. He immediately opens the Facebook tab and is happy to see that other-Warren had remained logged in before he left. His Facebook news feed is full of the usual science-memes, web comics and pictures of his classmates in various degrees of drunkenness. He taps on his profile picture.

His hair is a little longer in the photo, quite similar to how it was in his own universe. He rubs the back of his neck mournfully.

“Oh, quit it.”, he hears Nathan mutter quietly.

"Huh?”

“It’ll grow back. Besides, I did tell you to be very specific when you asked the guy to cut it shorter. You’re lucky you didn’t end up with a buzz cut.”

Warren thoughtfully considers this new bit of information. So apparently this Warren hadn’t been a fan of his new haircut either…

He scrolls down his feed- he didn’t really post much but there were a few things he was tagged in, like a picture of him and the rest of the Science Club Committee. He squints at the picture. Why did the table they were sat at seem familiar…?

_I’ve only been here fifteen minutes and I’m already praying for the sweet taste of death._

_I’d been surprised when I spotted Nathan Prescott waiting outside the Chemistry classroom for me, I figured he’d try to skip these sessions and put all the work on me. But any hope that he was willing to put his grudge me behind him were shattered as soon as I saw his face._

_His face darkens as he watches me approach, his jaw tightening in anger. His nose was dark purple from the bruising, with lighter patches covering the rest of his face. If he’d been in even half as much pain as I’d been first thing this morning, I might’ve almost felt sorry for him. My black eye was now extremely swollen and kept welling up, making it sting even more from the salty tears._

_I noted with amusement how Nathan straightened his back as I approached, trying to make himself look taller as I towered over him like a gangly giant. An angry chihuahua once again came to mind._

_“You’re late.”, he snapped, roughly picking up the backpack by his feet._

_I raised an eyebrow and checked my watch._

_“I’m pretty sure I’m on time, you just got here early…”_

_But he was already in the classroom before I even had the chance to finish my sentence. I sighed and followed him in._

_Inside Miss Grant is wiping away her class notes from the whiteboard. She turns around and smile at them._

_“Good to see you both here. Now, I’ve left you the key to the craft’s cupboard and feel free to use the printer in here. If there’s anything you need to buy, just email me about it and I’ll purchase it for you, as long as it’s within budget. Now…”, Miss Grant said, picking up her large handbag. “I’ll leave you both to it but be warned: I’ll be checking up on you both soon so no slacking.”_

_Miss Grant walked out the room, leaving me alone with Nathan, who was sitting slumped at the big table, scrolling through his phone. When I tried to catch his eye, he scowled, shifting his body away from my general direction. I sat down at the table, placing myself as far as I can from him and took out my laptop from my rucksack, logging on. I cleared my throat nervously._

_“So… I figured today we should just start doing research on all the planets, like writing down their size, surface temperatures and their orbiting moons etc. Then maybe tomorrow we can start working on our design for the exhibit? That okay?”_

_Nathan didn’t respond, as he continues to scowl down at his phone._

_I took a deep breath:_

_“Look, I don’t want to be here any more than you do but the sooner we finish this, the sooner we don’t have to work with each other ever again. Understand?”_

_“Whatever…”, Nathan muttered darkly but he does take out his own laptop from his bag and set it on the table._

_“Okay then… I’ll do the first four planets closest to our sun, you do the last four.” I glanced over at him. “Do you know what they are?”_

_“Of course I do!”, he snaps in annoyance. “Now just shut up and stop speaking to me, okay?!”_

_That was just fine with me, so I took out my notebook and started writing down some notes from a very informative website I’d found. I thought about recommending it to Nathan but I figured he’d just bite my head off, so I left him to it._

_After ten minutes had passed, I stood up, trying to see if I could find any spare highlighters in the storage cupboard at the back of the room when I decided to take a quick peek to see how far along Nathan is but instead I find him scrolling through his private photo collection, his internet tab not even open._

_I scowl._

_“Nice to see you hard at work.”, I drawl sarcastically, walking over and looking over his shoulder._

_Nathan flinches as I approach but doesn’t turn around._

_I exhale in frustration._

_“Look, just start working, okay? There’s no way we get this done before the deadline if I’m the only one doing anything.”_

_“Oh, fuck off Graham.”, Nathan snarls, finally looking at me in the eye. “I’ve got a photography project due soon and it’s your fault I’m here, working on this pointless crap.”_

_“Oh, right yeah, my fault…”, I say, turning the sarcasm up a notch. “I guess I must be remembering it all wrong, since I’m pretty sure it was you who started the fight.”_

_“You deserved it!”, Nathan hisses, his barely-repressed rage quickly escaping. “Do you know how much that camera cost? I could get my dad to throw you out of this school anytime now, and make your freaky parents pay for the damage.”_

_I feel myself grow hot under the collar when he brings my parents into it, but I do my best to stay calm- he wanted to get a reaction out of me, so that Miss Grant would have no choice but to report me to Principal Wells. I’d do my best not to respond._

_Nathan continues to rage._

_“… not to mention all the other stuff I could get you done for. I know for a fact it was you who broke my headphones and don’t think I’ve forgotten about the cafeteria incident…”_

_“If you’re trying to scare me Prescott, forget it. You’re too pathetic.”_

_Even I’m surprised at myself for that last comment: usually I’m pretty good at ignoring people trying to get a rise out of the nerd boy but something about Nathan just really gets under my skin. Maybe it’s his whiny voice, his whole demeanour of entitlement or just these last two weeks of growing resentment but the urge to punch him again was growing exponentially by the second._

_Nathan face goes red with rage._

_“YOU’RE PATHETIC!”, he yells, suddenly getting up and shoving me in the chest: I flinch slightly since that was where he’d kicked me pretty hard yesterday. “The way you’re always sucking up to teachers, calling your mommy whenever you feel like crying and playing with your stupid little action figures! You’re such a dweeb!”_

_I just laugh._

_“You’re saying_ I _suck up to people? I see the way you are with the Vortex people- the way you’re always trying to impress them even though they all think you’re just a stupid little kid. If that’s not the most pathetic thing I’ve seen, I don’t what is.”_

_Nathan shoves me again._

_“It’s your fault! You ruined my chances with them…”_

_“Oh, shut up Nathan! You never even had a chance! The only reason they even let you sit with them is because they hoped you might get your dad to buy stuff for them!”_

_Nathan is wheezing with anger now, his teeth gritted together._

_“You’re just jealous, you all are! You all hate me because of my dad, you hate me because he owns everything! You…”_

_“Is that why you think everyone hates you?!” I shout in disbelief. “Hate to burst your bubble Nathan but I didn’t even know who your dad was until last week and I still thought you were a huge dick. It has nothing to do with him.”_

_Nathan’s looks like he’s about to say something, but I keep ranting._

_“The reason people hate you is because you treat everyone like shit. Do you really think people want to try to be your friend when you act like you hate everyone? Do you think people like you telling them you’re so much better than them because of who your dad is? Do you think I’ve enjoyed having a roommate who doesn’t talk to me, steals my stuff and acts like the victim all the time? You think people owe you something because you’re lonely, even though you go out of your way to be as unlikeable as possible. That’s what makes you pathetic.”_

_I stop to breathe, shocked by my angry spiel. I knew I hated Nathan, but I thought I’d be able to make it through at least one session without having a go at him. I’d never felt this way towards someone before, not even the bullies at my old school who’d trip me on the way to class and throw my lunch down the toilet. I just hated him, I really hated him._

_My brain turned to panicked thoughts of Nathan marching up to Miss Grant now, telling her about the camera, trying to get me expelled… but when I look back at Nathan I’m shocked to see that all the rage has faded from his face. Instead he looks… almost confused? Dazed? He looks at me, his blue eyes wide and unblinking, like I’ve just grown another head._

_We stare at each other, almost in kind of a weird standoff for about another minute. Suddenly Nathan just sits down again and clicks on internet explorer. He types Jupiter into Google._

_I’m a little weirded out by his sudden mood change but I just walk back to my seat, still shaking slightly from my emotional outburst. I get back to researching Mercury._

_We work in silence for another forty-five minutes, the only sounds in the room being our breathing and the whirring sound emitting from my ancient laptop. I’m getting a bit engrossed in my work, since it’s a happy distraction from all my uncomfortable feelings right now and so is Nathan, judging from the amount of writing he’d doing._

_Suddenly the sound of strangely uneven breathing distracts me. I glance in Nathan’s direction: I can’t see his face properly behind the monitor, but I see him clenching up a piece of paper in one of his fists and his shoulders moving up and down in a very strange manner._

_“Nathan? Are you…”_

_Nathan jumps at the sound of my voice and I have to stifle a gasp as I see that his face is now red not just from the bruising, but also from the tears now streaking down his face, the tears welling up uncontrollably._

_I’d never seen him like this before, so… openly vulnerable. I can only stare in shock as he covers his face with his hands and turns away from me, trying to hold back the loud sobs now emitting from his mouth._

_Suddenly Miss Grant walks in._

_“Hello boys, just wanted to see how you two are…”_

_She stops talking when she sees the state Nathan is in._

_“Nathan, what’s the matt…”_

_But Nathan is already stuffing his stuff in his bag and hurrying out the door before she can even finish her sentence. She stares after him and looks back at me, concerned._

_“Warren, what happened?”_

_“We… I…”, I stutter trying to think. “We got into a fight but that was nearly an hour ago and…”_

_I shake my head in confusion. What had happened there?_

_Miss Grant sighs and looks down at her watch._

_“You may as well head off Warren. Maybe things will go better tomorrow evening…”_

_I nod, carefully packing up my notes and putting my laptop back in its case._

_As I head down the hallway, all I can think is that I so do not want to go back to my room and face Nathan right now._

_Maybe it would be worth giving Board Game Club a try…_

“Warren? Warren! Are you okay?”

Warren look up blearily at the significantly older Nathan Prescott as he tries to get his bearings again. His head was seriously hurting and a wave of tiredness was now overwhelming him. God, he was starting to really hate these flashbacks.

“What happened there?”, Warren hears himself slur sleepily.

“I don’t know, I asked you a question and when you didn’t answer I looked over and you were just kind of… staring into space you know? Are you alright? Did you fall asleep or something?”

“Yeah, I guess…”, Warren says, fighting to keep his eyes open. “I think… I’m going to go to bed now if that’s alright.”

“Um… okay.”, Nathan says, sounding a little worried as he glances over at their digital clock that shows its only eight in the evening. “Do you want me to turn the lights off or…”

But Warren is already asleep before he even hears the rest of Nathan’s question.


	8. Lost Property

An early ray sunshine peeks its way through the blinds onto Warren’s face, waking him. He blinks, dazzled as he once again takes in his surroundings. This time, he doesn’t freak out when he remembers where he is.

Warren rubs his eyes sleepily and slowly sits himself up, stretching his arms over his head. He’s still wearing the clothes he had on yesterday, his jeans feeling uncomfortably clammy now. He looks over at the other side of the room where Nathan is sleeping, who seems to have had a much more peaceful night compared to yesterday. He’s lying on his side, facing Warren with his eyes closed and mouth slightly open, murmuring a little as Warren accidentally causes his bed to creak. Warren notes with amusement that Nathan has a severe case of bedhead, his hair which had only been slightly unkempt during the day now sticking up all over the place, several strands lying over his eyes. Warren knew that in his own universe Nathan would’ve killed anyone who caught him looking like this.

His left arm was hanging off the side of the bed and that was when noticed something unusual: the inside of Nathan’s arm had a large patch of pink skin going up it, surrounding a long, jagged red line that was slightly protruding from his skin. It kind of looked like the remains of a stitched-up wound that had maybe been healing for about a few months now, maybe less. Warren can’t help feeling a little sick when he sees the scar goes all the way up to Nathan’s wrist, as memories of Biology class came flooding back to him: he’d fainted when they watched a video of a surgeon pulling out pieces of glass embedded in a man’s open wrist- that was the day he learnt that he was probably never going to make it as a doctor.

Warren rummages for some clean clothes to wear when he hears Nathan start to stir. He raises his head slightly from the pillow, turning towards where Warren is now standing.

“Hey.”, he croaks, pushing the hair out of his eyes. “You feeling okay today?”

Warren nods, and honestly, it’s the truth. Any headache he’d been feeling after last night’s flashback had vanished and he felt very rejuvenated after getting a full night of undisturbed sleep.

“Yeah, I’m good. Just got pretty tired last night.”

“I’ll say…”, Nathan yawns, pushing himself up from the mattress. “I almost thought you fainted! But you were moving about and making your usual weird noises, so I figured you’d be okay.” Nathan gives him a concerned look. “You went to sleep really early the other night too. You’re not coming down with something are you?”

“No!”, Warren yelps, perhaps a tad too defensively. “Just been exhausted from schoolwork, you know?”

“Right…”, Nathan murmurs, as he reaches over and opens the drawer to his bedside cabinet- he pulls out a toothbrush and tube of toothpaste. “Just that if keep passing out like that, maybe you should go talk to the nurse or something…”

“Are you alright?”, Warren asks, trying to get Nathan off the subject of him acting strange.

Nathan freezes and Warren gets the feeling he might’ve chosen the wrong thing to say.

“Yeah… I’m good.”, Nathan says softly, not looking Warren in the eye. “Had to take something to help me sleep last night but… no nightmares so that’s good I guess.”

Nathan stands up and grabs a towel off the radiator. He’s about to leave the room when he turns towards Warren, a grim look on his face.

“I… I won’t do anything that stupid again. I promise. I’m going to do whatever it takes to get better from now on.”

He goes up to Warren and gives him a quick peck on the cheek, then turns to leave the room, towel and toiletries in hand.

As the door closes shut, Warren puts his head in his hands and groans loudly. He’d been interfering in someone else’s relationship for two days now and it was only getting even harder to bear, what with Nathan trying to pour his heart out to him every other conversation they had. He felt trapped- he couldn’t exactly tell Nathan that his boyfriend wasn’t him and that he had no idea where he’d gone but he couldn’t keep lying to him either, not without going completely crazy.

Warren got changed quickly then opened his laptop to check if Max had contacted him yet through his Facebook account. He’s thrilled to see she has as he opens messenger and sees her name flash up. He clicks on the message.

_‘Hey, can you meet us by the lighthouse at 11 am? There’s someone else I want you to meet.’_

Warren responds:

_‘Sure, who is it? Has he/she been experiencing weird stuff too?’_

Max responds almost instantly:

_‘You know that blue-haired girl you were talking about yesterday? Well, you’re about to meet her.’_

Warren takes in a sharp breath as he reads that last message. Was she being serious? He feels his pulse quicken as unwelcome memories of a long-limbed body, covered in blood started invading his thoughts.

He looks over at his clock that read 10.30 am. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept in that late, he was usually pretty good at waking up early.

He starts typing:

_‘I’ll be there as soon as I can. Wait up.’_

He manages to find a decent pair of walking boots when Nathan walks in, hair still soaking wet from his shower. He raises an eyebrow questioningly at Warren, who is now lacing up his boots.

 _“_ You going somewhere?”

Warren nods.

“Yeah, Max just asked me to go see her.”, he says truthfully. “I think she might have news about Kate and she wants to tell me in person.”, he says slightly less truthfully.

“Hope it’s good news then…”, Nathan mutters to himself, eyebrows furrowed in worry. “I’d offer to go with you, but I promised I’d help Marie with packing today, so I’m probably not going to back here till five. Text me when you hear the news, yeah?”

“Right, sure!”, Warren says fake cheerily, already heading out of the door. “See you later!”

As soon as the door is closed shut behind him, he starts running down the hallways of Blackwell. The lighthouse wasn’t exactly near here, and he didn’t want to keep Max waiting too long.

As he heads out of the school, he notices several police cars in the parking lot who he can only assume are here about Kate Marsh. A few cops hanging around the entrance glance at him as he passes but they don’t pay him too much mind, as he doubts he looks that suspicious in his nerdy period table shirt.

He manages to catch a bus to the other side of town and as he watches the lighthouse grow nearer, his mind casts back to the flashback he’d had last night. It certainly was strange that after all these visons he’d been having, he still had no idea how he and Nathan had ever gotten together or at the very least how Nathan had become less of an asshole.

It was funny remembering his younger self, back before puberty had properly started but about when his hair had been starting to get increasingly greasier. While he himself hadn’t been at Blackwell at that age, he could certainly see a lot of similarities in young other-Warren: his slightly immature taste in clothes and room decoration, his close relationship with his parents and just an inherent sense of awkwardness about everything he did. Really, the only major difference was the fact that he’d really lost his temper with someone: usually his method for dealing with people being unreasonable was to either just ignore them completely or let himself get punched. The only time he’d fight back was when he was standing up for other people but even then, he was more of a human shield than anything else so generally when he was younger he did try to avoid confrontation.

With Nathan though? He’d completely lost it. He hadn’t just been defending himself, he’d been hitting out, fully intending to try and do as much harm to Nathan as possible. It had been a strange feeling, one he wasn’t used to: just pure white, hot rage and honestly, it kind of scared him, feeling himself lose control like that.

He hadn’t felt happy exactly to see the damage he’d inflicted on Nathan after their fight, but he hadn’t really regretted it either, he could remember that from the memory: besides, Nathan had hurt him just as bad if not a little bit more. He was a surprisingly agile fighter considering how small he’d been back then.

But when he made Nathan cry… he had felt a little bit shitty. Even if he hadn’t been entirely sure Nathan didn’t deserve to be yelled at, it hadn’t been a nice feeling knowing that it was probably him who made him feel that way…

_I can’t stop thinking about it as I watch the clock hands slowly tick towards the end of the school day: any minute now I’ll have to head off to Miss Grant’s classroom and see Nathan again. He’d already been asleep when I got back to our room at about 11:30 pm, after a long Dungeons and Dragons session and he must’ve left his room early this morning since his bed had already been empty by the time I woke up, so we hadn’t talked since our little blow up yesterday._

_I’m still honestly surprised I haven’t been called to the principal’s office yet, Nathan had already threatened to tell on me before I called him pathetic. Who knows what he’d want to do to me now?_

_I can’t believe I let myself lose it again: while I could be impulsive a lot of the time (see the food tray incident) I very rarely lost my temper with people. These past two days however, I’d broken someone’s property, got into a huge fist fight and yelled at someone until they cried._

_And all with the same guy…_

_I was still very upset about my grandad’s gift being ripped to shreds, but I wasn’t exactly proud of my behaviour either. Nathan may be a huge dick but me resorting to his level hadn’t been a smart or mature move: I should’ve talked to my parents or a teacher about what was going on, rather than mess with with the angry little rich kid._

_Nathan had been acting strangely yesterday: when he’d yelled at him the sneer he usually wore while talking to people had vanished, replaced with complete and utter shock, like he wasn’t used to people talking to him like that. Without the contempt in his face, he had looked even younger than he already looked and the fact that he had actually listened to me and sat down to do his work had been truly bizarre._

_And then he started crying…_

_I was often picked on at my old school, so I guess I had more of a distaste for bullies than most people which was why I stood up for people like Kate Marsh when I could, even if I did often make the situation worse somehow._

_What I’m trying to say is I usually I never try to hurt people’s feelings, at least not intentionally and while everything I said to Nathan yesterday was how I really felt about him… it felt terrible when he broke down in front of me. It was exactly like a little kid crying, loud and uncontrolled and while I’m sure he’ll be back to his usual arrogant self today, I’d hated the way he looked at me. It would’ve been better if he was angry…_

_“Hey, earth to Warren! You listening?”, James says, tapping me on the shoulder. We’re both meant to be working on some maths problems together, but I seem to have distracted myself with my worried thoughts._

_“Sorry…”, I murmur, picking up my pen. “Drifted away there…”_

_“Don’t worry about.”, James says, waving a hand dismissively. “I feel the same way, we’ve been cooped up in here for too long. Want to hang out after this?”_

_“Sorry can’t, got detention after school…”_

_“Oh right, sorry, forgot about that.”, James sighs, looking disgruntledly up at the whiteboard. “So, was working with Nathan Prescott as bad as it sounds?”_

_I hesitate but decide to be honest._

_“We…kind of got into a fight.”_

_James laughs._

_“What, again?”_

_“No, not like a violent one. A verbal one.”_

_James shrugs._

_“Doesn’t surprise me, the way you two were at it the other day. Honestly, I wouldn’t have blamed you if you punched him again, he’s a little creep. Did you two even manage to get any work done?”_

_I bite my lip, feeling uncomfortable with this line of questioning._

_“A little. But we had to stop early.”_

_James raises an eyebrow._

_“Why? Did Nathan not want to stay the full two hours?”_

_“He…well…”, I stutter, uncertain if I should share this with James. “He started crying…”_

_James widens his eyes in surprise then grins._

_“God, you’re kidding! Who knew: Nathan Prescott, resident scowly face, a total cry-baby! We have to tell Brooke this, you would not believe how he treated her the other day…”_

_“James!”, I hiss urgently, panicking now. I knew I shouldn’t have said anything. “Don’t tell anyone about this! Please!”_

_James looks at me, perplexed._

_“Why not? Surely you want to get back at him for getting you in detention…”_

_“The reason I got into detention was because I decided to be an idiot James.”, I say firmly, trying to make him understand. “Besides, I live with him, I don’t want to make this feud any worse that it already is. If I make his life hell, he makes my life hell, got it?”_

_James frowns._

_“But if it’s just a few people…”_

_“James. Please promise me you won’t tell anyone.”_

_James sighs, sounding slightly annoyed._

_“Okay, okay, I promise. Geez.”_

_I leave it at that and cross my fingers, hoping James will manage to keep his mouth shut about the whole thing. Getting to know him these last few weeks, I know he can be a bit of an idiot sometimes but he’s usually pretty good at keeping promises._

_As the bell finally rings and we’re all getting up from our seats, Amanda approaches me, a girl I’d become friendly with at Science Club. She had long dark hair held back with a red hairband and was quite freckly, with her entire face and body scattered with small brown spots. Lately, she’d always try and walk with me between lessons and always saved me a seat next to her at lunchtime. I was grateful to have found someone so friendly and considerate as her at this school, especially lately with all this drama I’d been having. She smiles at me._

_“Hey Warren! Hey James! How are you guys?”_

_James grins back at her._

_“I’m good, Warren here is still paying for his sins. He’s got to go and spend detention with Nathan Prescott again.”_

_Amanda gives me a sympathetic look._

_“Poor you! I still can’t believe Miss Grant is making you work with him after all that! How’s your eye today?”_

_“Still hurting, but getting a little better…”, I mumble, stroking my black eye. “I probably still look better than Nathan though.”_

_She sighs heavily, crossing her arms._

_“I’d be careful if I were you Warren: I know a girl who used to go to school with Nathan and apparently he got expelled because he wouldn’t stop getting into fights. So watch yourself.”_

_“Thanks Amanda… but I think it’s a bit late for that, I get the feeling he already doesn’t like me.”_

_She giggles a little at that._

_“By the way Warren…”, she says, suddenly looking nervous. “If you’re not too tired after detention maybe we could… go see a movie together?”_

_“Yeah, that’d be great!”, I say cheerfully. Then I frown as I suddenly remember. “Actually, sorry I can’t, I have finish my Algebra and Chemistry homework tonight. I forgot to do it yesterday.”_

_“I could do it for you! I’ve already done mine, so I could just change up my handwriting a little bit.”_

_I stare at Amanda, surprised by her offer. We weren’t exactly close friends and she never struck me as the type to break school rules._

_“Thanks Amanda, but I’m fine doing it myself. How about some other night?”_

_Amanda looks a little crestfallen but smiles anyway._

_“Yeah, okay… I’ll let you know when I’m free.”_

_She waves goodbye to us and heads off, leaving me with James, who punches me on the arm as soon as she leaves. I scowl at him, rubbing my shoulder._

_“What was that for?!”_

_“You just had Amanda ask you to the cinema tonight and you said no?!”_

_“I’m busy! I’ll go with her some other night. Besides, I don’t want to take advantage of her like that.”_

_James shakes his head at me in disbelief._

_“Sometimes I just think you’re too pure for this school Graham…”_

_We leave each other by the lockers and I start heading towards Miss Grant’s classroom, the pit in my stomach growing larger as I slowly walk there. When I do get there, I see Nathan isn’t waiting for me so I just head inside._

_Inside, Miss Grant is sitting at her desk, looking through her phone. She smiles when I walk in then looks pointedly over at the big table, where Nathan is already sitting. He doesn’t look up at me, but I can tell he knows I’m here by the way he tenses. I feel my palms sweat nervously. How on earth was I meant to talk to him after yesterday?_

_“Well boys, I’ll leave you two now. But just know that today I will be checking up on you two every fifteen minutes so…”, she says, giving us both a stern glare. “Try and keep the peace, okay?”_

_She shuts the door behind her and once again I am left in this room. Alone. With Nathan Prescott._

_Great._

_I take a seat at the table and get my notes out. I glance over at Nathan who is still being very quiet. His shoulders are hunched, and he is keeping his gaze to the floor, like he’s finding the criss-cross pattern fascinating._

_I sit there, hoping he’ll be the first one to break the silence since I honestly have no idea what the right thing to say is. After three minutes of this awkwardness however, I knew I had to be the one to say something._

_“Hey…”, I say, wincing as I hear my voice break slightly from nerves._

_Nathan looks up at me: I notice he looks really tired today, which is surprising because I was sure he had been fast asleep when I got in last night. The circles under his eyes are darker, coordinating with his bruised purple nose and the stare he gives me is weary, like he’s struggling to keep his eyes open._

_“I… we… do you…”, I splutter incoherently. I feel myself inwardly groan: why did I have to be so inept?_

_Suddenly, I hear Nathan quietly mumble something. He head is turned away, so I don’t hear what he says._

_“Uh.. sorry, I didn’t catch that.”_

_Nathan stays silent. I wonder if I just imagined him trying to say something._

_“Nathan, I… want to apologise about what I said yesterday.”, I say quietly, playing with a piece of paper between my hands. “I got angry and I just want…”_

_“Don’t be.”_

_I snap my head up in surprise. Nathan had spoken softly, so I wasn’t entirely sure I’d heard properly._

_“Sorry, what did you say?”_

_“I said don’t be sorry! I said some stupid stuff yesterday, alright?!”, Nathan snaps frustratedly, looking at me face on._

_I stare, my mouth open: that was the last thing I’d expected to come out of Nathan’s mouth today._

_And the surprises just kept on coming._

_“Look, I don’t blame you for hating me. I’d be surprised if you didn’t.” Nathan pauses, his eyes wandering away from me and back down to the floor. “But, I dunno, I guess I’ll just try to not… be my usual self when I’m in here. Like you said, the sooner we get this done the better, right?”_

_I’m still speechless: was he kind of apologising? Albeit, he was doing it in an exasperated manner, but it was still miles away from the Nathan I’d gotten to know these past few weeks. Right now, he looked pretty embarrassed by his outburst, his face a furious red and his mouth set in a grimace._

_I thought about how I should respond: while Nathan hadn’t exactly done much these last couple of days to really deserve forgiveness, I had to acknowledge that, for him, this was making an effort. Even if it did turn out he didn’t really mean it, it would be quite asshole-ish of me to deny his offer of a truce._

_“Okay…”, I say slowly, thinking about my next words carefully. “Is it okay if I apologise anyway?”_

_Nathan snorts at that._

_“Like you actually want to…”_

_“I do though.”_

_Nathan looks at me, skeptical, but I keep my gaze steady._

_“Look Nathan, believe it or not, I don’t enjoy hurting people, I never usually do the kinds of things I’ve done this week. Even if I am still mad at you, I don’t want to keep fighting like this. So yeah, I do want to apologise because I don’t like the way I’ve acted, and I don’t like the kind of person it’s turning me into. Do you understand what I’m saying?”_

_Nathan doesn’t say anything. He just chews his lip, looking moody so I decide I may as well just keep talking._

_“So yeah… I’m sorry.”, I mumble, crossing my arms to my chest as I sigh deeply. “I’m sorry I threw my food tray at you. I’m sorry I threw away your photos. I’m sorry about your headphones. Your camera. And… I’m sorry about your nose and all the rest.”_

_The look on Nathan’s face would’ve been priceless in any other situation: his eyes were wide and his mouth slightly agape as he looks on at me in total shock: it seems I surprised him even more than he surprised me. After a small period of silence he gulps and looks away. Was he blushing?_

_“You… you don’t have to apologise about the lunch tray. Not your fault you’re a lousy shot.”_

_What he says is so unexpected that I find myself laughing. He looks on at me, surprised, but I think I almost see him grin. It quickly vanishes though as a troubled look once again crosses his features._

_“Actually Warren, I don’t know of you really need to apologise about anything to me.”, he murmurs quietly. “I mean, I was kind of asking for it, I kept trying to get a reaction out of you.”_

_I frown at him, wondering what he meant by that. He sees my look and sighs._

_“After that cafeteria incident… I was so mad. I wanted to get into the Vortex Club so badly and then you… you made me a laughing-stock in front of them. I mean I already didn’t like you…” he glances at me. “No offence. But after that, I just wanted to get back at you in some way, some way that would really hurt you… but nothing worked. Doesn’t matter what I broke or stole, you didn’t react, you just kept ignoring me and… and… that made me furious. It made me so angry that nothing I did seemed to matter to you, so when you actually started fighting back, sure I was pissed, but I almost got a rise out of it, you know? Like it made me happy to know I was finally getting under your skin.”_

_Nathan stops talking as he closes his eyes and starts breathing heavily, like he’s fighting to keep some emotion down. It takes him a few more seconds before he continues._

_“Then you broke my camera… I just saw red. It wasn’t fun anymore and I lost control as per usual. So yeah, you were right yesterday, I am pathetic. I wanted to mess up your life because I don’t have anything better to do in mine and when things didn’t go my way, I threw a tantrum. That’s why I don’t want you to pretend like you regret anything you’ve said or done to me because honestly, I don’t blame you for wanting to.”_

_I look at him, amazed. In five minutes, he had talked to me longer than the entirety of our interactions at Blackwell these past couple of weeks. Was this really the same guy who’d yelled at me yesterday for telling him to get on with his work?_

_Whatever the cause of this sudden change in attitude, I was happy about it. The fact that Nathan Prescott actually had a sense of self-awareness was a true miracle to me and greatly encouraging to think that we might be ale to move past this and live together this year without annihilating each other._

_However, there’s still a few things I need to say…_

_“Do you want to know why I broke your camera?”_

_Nathan frowns at me, clearly confused._

_“Uh… because you hate me? I’ve got to be honest Warren, I don’t think it’s that complicated…”_

_“It’s not because I hate you. Well, not entirely anyway.”_

_Nathan raises an eyebrow at me. I take a deep breath: I haven’t told anyone this yet because of how personal it was but Nathan had just opened up to me, so I may as well return the favour._

_“The photograph you tore up? It was the last present I got from my grandad before he died. And… I still really miss him, okay? That’s why I went crazy and started smashing up your camera. I’m just telling you this so you understand.”_

_I turn away, blinking profusely: there was no way I was going to start crying in front of him. I’m not looking so I can’t see his reaction, but he’s gone very silent right now, unnervingly so._

_I take my laptop out, still avoiding his eyes: I was seriously regretting showing weakness in front of Nathan Prescott. What if he went back to his old self tomorrow? Why did I think it was a good idea to share that?_

_“I’m… I’m sorry.”_

_I freeze, my fingers over my mousepad. I finally look at Nathan, who has his clasped together on the desk, staring off out the window. His eyes wander back to me, as he continues:_

_“I mean… I knew it must’ve been important to you, I saw that it’d been signed. That’s why I ripped it. I didn’t… I didn’t know it was that important though. So… yeah. I’m sorry.”_

_I consider him: he sounded almost surly but there was something in his eyes that makes me think he’s being genuine with his apology._

_I hold out my hand._

_“Truce?”_

_He regards me for a few seconds before also reaching out his hand. We shake._

_“Truce.”, he says, quickly unclasping his hand from mine, placing it back on the desk._

_We sit in awkward silence. I drum my fingers on the table, looking at Nathan out the corner of my eye. I decide I may as well try asking…_

_“About the stuff you stole from me… did you throw it all away?”_

_Nathan chews his lip, thinking._

_“Most of the stationary stuff, yeah. But I kept the books and toys. I suppose you’ll be wanting them back?”_

_“If you don’t mind.”, I say casually, whilst opening up my files from yesterday. “Don’t suppose you kept the calculator as well? I’ve kind of been struggling without it.”_

_Nathan frowns, like he’s confused._

_“What calculator?”_

_I look at him in disbelief. Unbelievable…_

_“My calculator? That you stole from me?”_

_Nathan shakes his head._

_“No, I don’t remember taking that.”_

_I stare at him, trying to spot signs that he’s lying but he looks genuinely baffled by the question._

_I feel sick as a sudden awful realisation comes over me…_

_I walk over to Miss Grant’s lost property box in the corner of the room. I hadn’t even bothered to check there since I naturally assumed the calculator’s disappearance had been Nathan’s handiwork._

_As I bend over to look inside, I see that, sure enough, my calculator lays inside, a little dustier than when I last saw it. I pick it up and turn around to see Nathan watching me, raising an eyebrow when he sees what is now in my hand._

_I click my tongue and shift my eyes back and forth across the room, feeling incredibly awkward._

_I must look like the biggest idiot ever …_

_I sit back down and turn towards Nathan. I smile sheepishly._

_“You want to know something funny? The reason I started messing with your stuff was because I thought you took my calculator. That was what broke my back.”_

_Nathan doesn’t smile but I see a corner of his mouth twitch a bit._

_“If it makes you feel any better, I did think about stealing it. But I decided on the black robot guy instead.”_

_I give him a hard glare._

_“That’s Darth Vader you’re talking about and if I see so much as a scratch on him when you give him back, let me assure you Prescott, it will be war again.”_

_Nathan scoffs at that._

_“Whatever nerd…”_

_“How are you two boys getting on?”_

_We both jump at Miss Grant’s voice: we hadn’t heard her come in._

_I look over my shoulder and try to smile as convincingly as I can._

_“It’s going fine!”_

_“Uh huh…”, she says sceptically, looking over at our table. “What’ve you done so far?”_

_To my surprise, Nathan answers._

_“We’re working on our design right now: we’re thinking of doing sculptures.”_

_Miss Grant nods approvingly._

_“Bit ambitious: but I’m sure you two will do just fine. Keep it up you two.”_

_As Miss Grant closes the door behind her, I turn to Nathan and hiss incredulously:_

_“Sculptures? Nathan, there’s no way we can afford enough clay to make eight planets.”_

_“No, I wasn’t thinking about using clay. I was thinking of papier mache.”, Nathan says, writing something down on his piece of paper._

_“Papier mache?”, I say doubtfully, remembering the shapeless blobs I made when I was eight._

_“Don’t worry, I know how to make spheres and stuff. And I even have some paints in my room for when we have to colour them in.”_

_“Okay…”, I say slowly, starting to come round on the idea. “But how do we display them on the stand for the parent-teacher event?”_

_Nathan looks up at the ceiling, seemingly thinking. Suddenly he snaps his head back down and grins._

_“The senior art room has some metal rods they use for art displays. We could attach them to the planets, so they look like they’re floating, like in the solar system! I’m sure they wouldn’t notice a few of them going missing…”_

_I cock my head at Nathan, a little astounded he was actually thinking up some pretty good ideas._

_He was looking at me, almost like he was waiting for approval. I smile at him and start writing down his ideas on my piece of paper._

_“Okay… I’ll be perfectly honest, I’m terrible at crafts but I’m happy to make a board that has all the facts we listed yesterday written on it. I can also do the math, so we can work out the distance of all the planets from each other on our display scale and their approximate sizes compared to the central sun and…”_

_Soon we were passing the paper back and forth, writing down more ideas and trying to decide how to split the work. After several minutes of doing this we suddenly stop and look at each other, and I can see the same thought I have in his eyes._

_This might actually work…_

A sudden bump on the road brings Warren sharply back to reality. He groans and holds his head in his hands; the pain wasn’t quite as bad as last night but it certainly wasn’t pleasant…

So that was how it began was it? Warren couldn’t help thinking that other-Warren had perhaps forgiven younger Nathan a bit too readily, but then again, Warren had been a lot less sceptical when he was a kid, always doing his best to see the good in people.

Perhaps it was the same thing for Nathan… after all he was only twelve in this memory, basically just a kid. Maybe that had made him open to change, to try and be a better person. The Nathan he knew would’ve never even considered apologising to anyone, no matter how far in the wrong he was. Had he been beyond saving by the time he first met him in his own universe…?

Warren resolved not to think about it too much as he saw his stop approaching. He got off the bus and started hurrying up the hill, knowing that he was definitely going to be late.

As he was reaching the peak, his legs burning from running, he spotted two figures standing by the lighthouse: one he recognised as Max from her slight stoop and the other with bright blue hair that he could spot from a mile away…

Feeling his mouth go dry, he felt his pace slow as once again traumatic images flooded his brain. He was going to be meeting a girl he saw die, it was too surreal…

Max waved at him from afar and as he got nearer, he looked closely the girl standing next to her. He was under no doubt that this was the same girl he’d seen in the bathroom the other day: the short aqua locks, long, slender body and pale skin were the same and as he got nearer and could make out her features, her face was definitely familiar. She wore ripped denim jeans, sneakers and a vest top that read: _‘No time for your shit’_. She looked so different from Max, who was wearing her usual pastel colours, including a beige t-shirt with a cartoon duck across the chest.

Max smiles at him as he approaches.

“Sorry we asked you to meet all the way out here but Chloe refused to go all the way to school with me so this was a compromise…”, Max babbles nervously, glancing over at the blue-haired girl, who is regarding me coldly right now, but doesn’t look too hostile.

“Anyway…”, Max says, gesturing towards her friend. “This is Chloe Price and…”

“And I am waiting to hear why the hell you dragged me out here for this.”, Chloe mutters darkly, glaring at Max. “This had better be good…”

Warren gasps: while he’s never had a proper conversation with Chloe Price before he knew her by reputation of course: expelled from Blackwell, involved in all kinds of drug dealings, friends with the missing Rachel Amber funnily enough. And here she was now, regarding him like an undercooked meal she wants to send back and get a refund for. She holds her hands out, raising her eyebrows expectantly.

“Well? Want to tell me what’s the important thing I need to hear about?”


	9. Lighthouse

Chloe stands there, hand on her hip, tapping her foot. Warren knows she’s waiting for him to say something, but he’s just staring at Max in exasperation, wondering what the hell she was trying to achieve here: he’d come here out of pure curiosity and now he was here, he had no idea what he was meant to tell this girl. Did Max really expect him to tell her his whole crazy tale? Unless they were going to be struck by lightning again, he doubted she was going to believe it.

Chloe turns her gaze back to Max, rolling her eyes.

“Well Max, I came up here like you asked, and I’ve got to say, a bit disappointed. Please explain why you’re introducing one of your dorky friends to me?”

Max sighs, gesturing towards Warren.

“This is Warren, and… well, you know how I keep predicting stuff recently? He…”

“Fuck’s sake Max! Not this again!”, Chloe shouts angrily, her chill demeanour suddenly vanishing. She balls her hands into fists and scowls over at Warren, who is now sweating nervously.

“Have you been encouraging this?!”, Chloe growls, marching up to him. “Huh? Think it’s funny to mess with people?”

“Chloe!”, Max yelps, rushing forward to put a hand to Chloe’s chest. “Look, just listen for five minutes okay? Then you can choose to be mad or not.”

Chloe gives Max a dirty look but relents: she backs away from Warren, still looking at him suspiciously. Warren once again regrets coming up here: she was going to kill him as soon as he breathed a word about parallel universes.

Max fidgets, looking over at Warren for support but in all honesty, he’s still a bit confused about the whole situation.

“Max…”, he says turning towards her. “The only thing you’ve told me about so far is Kate Marsh- have you been having other premonitions?”

“Oh my God…”, Chloe groans, putting her hands to her face but Max just ignores her.

“Yeah, I’ve been having them for a few months now- at first it was just kind of subtle, you know? Like I’d get a bad feeling right before someone falls over or breaks something, just little things like that so I didn’t think much of it. But then…”

Max pauses, looking out to sea: her eyes are glistening, but her mouth is set in a thin line, determined. She looks over at Chloe, as if daring her to say anything but she just gazes back at her, jaw set tight. Clearly these two had had an argument about this subject before.

“But then one day… I just felt awful and I couldn’t explain why, I was just in a constant state of dread. The next day I found out one of my friends from my old school got run over by a car. He lived, but I could remember the night before I messaged him on Facebook even though I hadn’t talked to him in months. It was almost like… I was worried about him, even though I had no reason to be at the time. And stuff like just kept happening, like at first I thought I was just being paranoid but then…”

Max casts a worried glance over at Chloe but by this point, she’s looking away from Max and Warren, arms folded close to her chest. Warren can’t help thinking she looks a little upset…

Max swallows nervously.

“Anyway… doesn’t matter. What’s important is I suddenly realised that these bad feelings I’d been getting, they were more than just ordinary premonitions: I could actually predict the day something terrible was going to happen and even guess the location.  I told Chloe about all of this, she didn’t believe me and… that’s part of the reason why we fought. You know the rest: I started to wander around and something drew me to the junkyard that night, where… where…”

Max can’t finish her sentence as her eyes once again grow teary and she is forced to look to the ground, fists clenched. Most of the hostility disappears from Chloe’s face as she looks over at Max with growing concern as her tears start to fall. Warren can’t help thinking that there’s something she wants to say to Max right now without him being here.

“Max, how’s Kate doing? Is she awake yet?”, Warren suddenly asks urgently, hoping that her condition hadn’t worsened since yesterday.

Max shakes her head in frustration.

“I don’t know! They won’t let me in to see her and all they can tell me is that her condition is still stable- whatever that means. The police questioned me today, and I told them everything, minus the part about the gun and I think they’re going to be questioning more people at school soon. Whether they’ll be able to find out anything, who knows…”

“Max!”, Chloe suddenly barks, pointing over at Warren. “ _I_ know all this, the whole point in me coming out here is so _you_ could prove your crazy theory to me! And so far…”, Chloe scowls over at Warren. “…your evidence hasn’t been exactly convincing.”

Max turns towards Warren, looking up at him encouragingly.

“Warren, would you mind…?”

“Yeah, sure.”, Warren mumbles uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his neck. What that the hell was he meant to say to the angry blue lady? Without ending up with a broken nose?

Warren decided on the honest, blunt approach. At least that way, his death would be relatively quick. He takes a deep breath and begins:

“Hey… my name is Warren, but I guess you already knew that, err… so yesterday I was transported to another universe and…”

“Bullshit.”

Chloe starts stomping off down the hill, Max running behind her, shouting “Wait!”. Warren can only look on, feeling like he probably could’ve handled that better…

“Chloe, wait! Let him explain…”

“Max, you need to stop this now, I’m being serious, before you get locked up or something…”

“I’m not crazy Chloe! Look, I only met this guy yesterday and he knew all kinds of stuff about me, stuff that only me and you would know…”

“So that makes him a crazy stalker Max, not a bad Star Trek episode! It’s sick of him to even encourage you…”

“But what he’s talking about makes sense Chloe! If there’s some weird thing going on with parallel universe, that would explain my recent abilities, that freaky storm yesterday and…”

“Max, just shut it! I’m going home…!”

“WAIT!”, Warren suddenly bellows. Both girls turn to gaze at him in surprise. He breathes heavily, happy he’s got their attention: Warren came all the way out here, he wasn’t going to leave until he had said his piece. His eyes fall on Chloe, who’s face is thunderous, with Max clinging on her arm, trying to pull her back up the hill.

He sighs to himself.

“Look… I don’t blame you for thinking I’m crazy or a liar, I’d think the same thing in your shoes, but it is… true. I wish to hell it wasn’t but all I know is one minute I was in my own universe, and the next minute I was here. And… I have no clue how to get back or why the hell something brought me here, so I went searching for Max because back home, she’s one of my best friends. But here, she didn’t even recognise me and… that sucked, it really sucked.”

Chloe is still glaring at him but at the very least she’s not trying to walk away anymore. Warren continues…

“Anyway, Max came up to me again yesterday and she didn’t believe my story at first, but then that storm happened and suddenly, she seemed a lot more willing to accept it. And the both of us just want to try and find out what’s been happening to us and if both our problems are related…”

“Stop.”, Chloe says firmly, putting her hand up. “I’ve heard enough. And to your credit Warren, I don’t think you’re lying, but I now know for a fact you’re crazy. Get help and leave us alone, okay?”

“Chloe!”, Max snaps, grabbing Chloe by the shoulder, forcing her to look her in the eye. “That storm yesterday couldn’t be explained by anything natural and you’ve seen what I’ve managed to predict these last few weeks, why won’t you admit that something weird’s going on…”

Chloe pushes Max off her, causing her to stumble. Warren catches her before she falls to the ground. Chloe gives Warren a dirty look.

“Both of you…”, she hisses, giving them both the evil eye. “I don’t know what’s wrong with you two, but it has to stop. Now. It’s not funny…”

“Do you want to know why I asked you up here Chloe?”, Max interrupts, looking intently into Chloe’s eyes.

Chloe rolls her eyes and turns to walk away again.

“BECAUSE WARREN SAW YOU GET SHOT IN HIS UNIVERSE!”

Chloe freezes in her tracks, slowly turning around and meeting Max’s eyes, reddened from her previous tears but more determined than ever.

“He… he saw you get shot and that’s been freaking me out all night because I don’t know what it means, because I know for a fact something’s going to happen to Arcadia Bay, I’m not sure what, but if it involves you, I want to be able to know how I…”

“You’re a sick fucker, you know that Warren?!”, Chloe suddenly shouts, marching up to Warren, her face only inches from his own right now. He flinches as she exhales sharply in anger. “You listen to me, you’d better stop messing with Max’s head or I’m gonna…”

Before she can finish her sentence however, Max forces herself between the two of them, pushing Chloe backwards.

“Chloe- I know the last few days have been hard for you, but I need you to calm down and listen…”

“Max, I’ve had enough, you need to forget about all this…”

As they bicker back and forth, a flock of birds flying overhead catches Warren’s eye, who is doing his very best to appear invisible right now. He can’t help thinking their formation looks a little odd and as he looks closer he realises the birds are all different types, some large, some small. He spots sparrows, crows, seagulls, even something that looks a bit like a hawk. He frowns to himself: that isn’t normal behaviour. He glances down the hill and gasps in shock: Max and Chloe stop arguing and turn to see what he’s looking at, their eyes widening when they spot it.

Over the entirety of Arcadia Bay, hangs a dark cloud- on closer inspection this cloud is made up of tiny black dots that move up and down in a steady rhythm, slowly moving in a circle over the town. Warren recognises these dots as even more birds, and there’s hundreds of thousands of them, some species he doesn’t even recognise. He looks overhead and realises the birds over the lighthouse are following the same rhythm as the ones down in town: one slow dip, quick rise and repeat.

Him, Max and Chloe stare in awe at the sight: it was a silent display, almost otherworldly in their coordinated movement. Slowly but surely the flock’s pace started to get more and more rapid, the speckly swirl lying above the town looking more and more deranged.

Suddenly the circle breaks: the birds strange choreography finishes as the flock disbands and changes their direction.

They start heading straight up the hill towards the lighthouse.

The three of them stand there frozen in terror as they watch the dense mass move towards them at great speed. Warren is the first to shout “Get down!” as he realises how low some of them are flying.

Max, Warren and Chloe dive to the ground, narrowly missing the first wave of birds. Warren could practically feel their feathers as they zoomed past, and as he glanced up, all he could see was a flurry of shades of brown, black and blue. He holds his arms over his head, and the other two do the same.

It feels like several minutes before the sound stops and Warren dares to look up again: all he sees is a clear blue sky, with a few fluffy white clouds scattered. He stands himself up, shakily, fearing another onslaught but none comes. He hears Max and Chloe getting up as well and as he looks behind him, in the distance he sees the flock still travelling, growing smaller with distance as they head away from Arcadia Bay, the entire flock only the size of a polaroid photo by this point.

He turns back to the other two: Chloe’s knees are shaking, her cool-as-ice attitude completely vanished as she looks on it awe at the retreating birds. Max, meanwhile, seems relatively calm, looking up thoughtfully at the retreating chaos. She looks over at Chloe, who is barely keeping it together.

“Hey: I don’t know about you but I’m having a hard time thinking up a rational explanation for what just happened.”

Chloe is shaking her head now, breathing heavily. Max puts a hand out to comfort her but she slaps it away, her eyes screwed shut.

“Max…”, she whispers, sounding like she’s trying to hold back tears right now. “I… I need to take this all in okay? I can’t…”

She shivers and glances over at Warren, who is still feeling a little numb from the weirdness he’d just experienced. She regards him, like she was trying to judge him from a different angle than she had before.

“Look Warren…”, she says softly sighing. “I’m not saying I completely believe you but… I’m willing to hear you out. Just… I need to go home now. I need to calm down before I have to go to work. I’ll see you guys again soon, yeah?”

With that she heads off. Max starts following her and at first Chloe tries to shrug her off but eventually she relents, letting Max hold her hand. Warren watches them walk down the hill together as he sits down on the bench and tries to take in what just happened.

Maybe it’s his imagination but Arcadia Bay seemed a little more silent. Had that been all the birds in Arcadia? Did they all just vanish?

As he considers these questions, his eyes wander over to the lighthouse and he’s almost unsurprised when he spots some graffiti just to the side of it’s door. It reads:

_‘Die Max, die.’_

Warren feels a pang of fear as he reads that: they weren’t usually so specific these warnings and now they were calling for the death of one of his friends? Where on earth were these written messages coming from?

He hears a ping on his phone and looks down to see that a new text has just come through. It’s from Max.

_‘Hey, sorry I had to run off like that, I needed to make sure Chloe was okay. I promise you she’s not usually like this, she’s been through a lot recently. I promise I’ll explain soon. I think she believes us, so let’s try and meet tomorrow at school. Thanks, Max :)’_

As Warren reads the message, he can’t help thinking that while these crazy events weren’t exactly good for his heart, at least they’d helped at least two people believe his outlandish story.

Still though, after that weird storm cloud and the killer bird mob, who knew what could be coming next…


	10. Darth Vader

Warren heads back to his dorm room, eager to check social media to see what people were saying about the Arcadia’s most recent strange event. As he enters the room, he’s happy to see that Nathan is still out, so he doesn’t have to worry about trying to appear normal, something that would be especially difficult for Warren after this morning’s weirdness.

Logging onto Facebook, he finds that several people are posting about the birds: there’s even some memes already being made, one especially amusing one involving the famous Hitchcock film of the same name. He checks the news and finds several articles discussing theories for the freak thunderstorm yesterday: climate change, government’s secret weapon’s testing, extra moisture in air from new crop farming methods… but none seem to give a conclusive answer, as Warren had expected. He honestly couldn’t wait to see how researchers and major news outlets would try to explain the craziness from this morning.

He checks to see if he’s had any more messages from Max, but his inbox is empty, aside from some group chats still buzzing about the birds. He checks his email and his heart stops a little as he spots a new message from Principal Wells, remembering his little trip to his office yesterday. He opens it, praying for good news…

It read as follows:

_To Mr Graham,_

_After interviewing several witnesses about the alleged incident yesterday, it has been decided you were unfairly provoked by Mr Robertson and Mr Riggins and, taking the rest of your school record into account, it has been decided that the school administration will not proceed with any punishment against you._

_However, know that if there any other word gets back to me about any other violent acts, I will not hesitate in contacting your parents and considering suspension._

_I hope it shall not come to this and please enjoy the rest of your school year._

_Regards,_

_Principal Wells_

Warren sighs in relief: at least that was one less thing he had to worry about and other-Warren wouldn’t be returning to a universe where he was suspended for something that wasn’t his doing.

Warren looks around the room, considering what he wants to do for the rest of the day; maybe he could study, but his mind felt way too buzzed for that right now. It occurred to him that he’d never really explored the room properly besides the quick look around he’d had on Thursday, the first time he’d walked in here.

While it did feel a little wrong to snoop, Warren knew deep down that he may be stuck in this universe forever so why not look around? He was curious about other-Warren and his life: did they go on the same holidays as kids, what was he planning to study at college, was his favourite Star Wars movie still ‘ _Return of the Jedi’_?

Warren didn’t think he could live with himself if it’d changed to _‘The Empire Strikes Back’_ …

How long did Nathan say he was out for? Until five? That was plenty of time…

Warren sticks a hand under the bed and fumbles around until he feels something sturdy and pulls it out: it’s a black plastic box, filled to the brim with what looked like various knick-knacks.

Inside he finds a busted old telescope, several old Tamagotchi’s and an old ‘ _Death Note’_ poster. Evidently Warren was a hoarder in this universe as well…

He pulls out a small cardboard box and empties out its contents: several mini Star Wars action figures fall out, several of which are missing their heads, which he recognises as younger Nathan’s doing. There are a few survivors, including a Darth Vader collectible that Warren remembers buying with his allowance when he was ten. He turns it over in his hands, impressed at how it was still in such good condition after all these years…

_I place Darth Vader back on the shelf, back with his fellow comrades Palpatine and Boba Fett- it was good to see him up there again, in all his glory._

_When Nathan had rushed up to me just before lunch and wordlessly handed me a bag before running off again, I almost worried it was going to be another prank: he hadn’t talked to me since yesterday at detention and all we’d talked about was what supplies we needed to buy for our project. We’d walked back to our room together in awkward silence and we’d spent most of our evening catching up on our respective homework. While I hadn’t exactly expected Nathan to start acting all friendly towards me, I had hoped that he might stop pretending I don’t exist even when we’re in the same room together. It made me worry that all the good will he’d shown yesterday afternoon might vanish the next day._

_When I looked in the bag however, I found most of my missing belongings lay inside, still intact and free from any scratches. I smiled to myself, happy that he’d kept his promise, my smile quickly fading when I remembered the photo’s I stole from Nathan- I really regret throwing them away now._

_Still, I guess I could make it up to him: maybe I could pay for the next roll of film he develops? Mind you, he was crazy rich so maybe he wouldn’t appreciate it that much._

_After school, I’d headed to my room to pick up some of the supplies I’d brought for detention and to put my belongings back in their places. As I put my textbooks back on my desk, I spot James and Amanda outside the window, hanging out on the courtyard together. James looks likes he’s trying to do a bit of parkour on one of the benches but manages to end up landing on his face, looking more embarrassed than hurt. Amanda gets up to help him, laughing good naturedly and_   _I can’t help thinking how pretty she looks today: it was a shame she’d never go for a guy like me. At least she wanted to be friends at the very least: after all, she had agreed to rearrange their cinema outing to tonight, so she can’t be that upset about me saying no yesterday._

_After making sure I have everything I need, I head towards Miss Grant’s room. As I enter, I notice Miss Grant isn’t at her desk, but Nathan is already sitting at the big table, his craft stuff already set out. He nods over at Miss Grant’s desk._

_“She left a couple of minutes ago, but she said she’ll be back soon to check on us. So, you want to get started?”_

_I smile, sitting down. Nathan remains stony faced._

_“Yeah, sure. You got my email earlier about the model measurements for the planet’s right? Also I think we need to…”_

_Soon enough we are both working hard at our respective jobs, Nathan making his papier mache mush and me working on the labels for each of the respective planets. After about half an hour of working in silence, I look over at Nathan, who has his sleeves rolled up and is applying the first few layers of sticky newspaper strips to the first few spheres._

_I decide I may as well try to start a conversation…_

_“Hey! Do you need any help with that?”_

_Nathan looks up, a little disorientated after being so absorbed in his work. He looks over at the pile of newspapers sitting next to him on the table._

_“Would you mind shredding the rest of those please? Then you can just put them in the bowl with the glue, thanks.”_

_I walk over and sit down, only a few seats away from him now as I start tearing up the remaining newspaper. He avoids my eyes, visibly uncomfortable with me being near him which is odd, considering that we’d almost been joking about with each other yesterday afternoon, after our little apology session._

_I try to break the ice._

_“Hey, uh… thanks for giving my stuff back, I really appreciate it.”_

_Nathan shrugs, busy applying a large strip to one of the spheres. I try again:_

_“Where’d you hide it all? If you don’t mind me asking.”_

_Nathan pauses in his work, looking a little embarrassed by my question._

_“You know the music room? Well… there’s a loose panel in the ceiling. I just stood on a chair and put your stuff up there. I doubted anyone would look there, unless Well’s actually starts spending money on maintenance for this place. They still haven’t fixed that crack in our wall.”_

_Warren chuckles at that._

_“Honestly? I kind of like it. I mean think about it: years from now when we’ve left this school, new students will stay in that room and make up rumours about how the crack got there. Maybe they’ll say a student died after falling on the wall and cracking his head open. Then a rumour will start that the room’s haunted and basically we’ll have invented up a new school ghost!”_

_Nathan just grunts in response and I can’t really blame him: I babble when I’m nervous and trying to engage Nathan in small talk wasn’t an easy task._

_Maybe being blunt would be a more effective method…?_

_“Hey Nathan…”_

_“What?”, he says, not glancing up._

_“Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”_

_Nathan just shrugs again._

_“Depends what you’re asking.”_

_“Why do you hate me?”_

_Nathan looks up, surprised by my question. I swallow, feeling kind of stupid now._

_“It’s just that… you’ve always acted pretty hostile towards me, ever since we first met, and you said yesterday that you already disliked me before I threw food on you. So, I’m just wondering… why exactly?”_

_Nathan considers his answer carefully, frowning to himself._

_“It’s… hard to explain exactly. I mean, I’ve got to be honest, most people annoy me. But you in particular? I guess you’re just… just…”_

_Nathan shakes his head in frustration, angry that he can’t think of the right words to use. Finally, he just blurts out his answer:_

_“You’re just so… fucking wholesome!”_

_I squint, confused._

_“That’s… a bad thing?”_

_“Yes! No! I don’t know, it doesn’t matter…”_

_Nathan starts peeling the glue off his fingers, silently scowling to himself. He looks up at me again, sighing._

_“I guess… I got annoyed with how soppy your family is, and seeing you hang out with all your dorky friends and how all the teachers seem to love you and…”_

_Nathan stops himself, his face now a deep shade of red. I look at him, trying my best to understand what he’s saying._

_“So, you hate me… because I’m happy?”_

_Nathan opens his mouth, like he’s about to protest but closes it again quickly as a new thought seemingly occurs to him. He frowns._

_“Yeah. I guess that is why…”, he whispers, sounding confused, like he’s only just realised this himself. “I guess… it annoyed me?”_

_I ponder about this new bit of information._

_“So… you’re jealous?”_

_“No!”, he yelps, looking slightly panicked. “I just mean… it made me mad because I’m crap with people while you just make it look so easy!”_

_“Nathan…”, I say calmly, giving him a hard stare. “While that isn’t the literal definition of jealousy, it may as well be.”_

_He pouts, which only serves to make him look even more like an upset child._

_“Fine! I was jealous okay?! You happy?”_

_I think about it._

_“No. Not really, no.”_

_As we sit there in another bout of awkward silence, a sudden thought occurs to me._

_“Nathan- you know how you said you weren’t good with people? Why did you choose to live in a shared room then? Were all the singles taken or something?”_

_At first I thought he might not have heard me, since he doesn’t seem to have any visible reaction to what I just said. I was just about to repeat the question when he finally replies:_

_“I wasn’t allowed to.”_

_I blink at him, slightly baffled by his answer. He sees my face and elaborates:_

_“I’ve… always been kind of a loner at my old schools and my dad… well, he really hates that. It’s kind of embarrassing for him, having a son who’s a loser like me. I promised him I’d actually try and make friends this year, but I don’t think he believed me. That’s why he asked the school to make sure I’d have a roommate this year, so at least I’d be forced to talk to at least one person every day.”_

_I gaze at Nathan, shocked: that hadn’t been the answer I’d expected at all. I fidget with my fingers, nervous about my next question:_

_“Is that part of the reason why you resented me so much?”_

_Nathan just shrugs: he seems embarrassed about opening up to me and is going back to working on his planet models. I think about asking another question but decide he might need a minute, so I get back to making my information diagrams. We’re behind schedule now anyway._

_After more time has passed Miss Grant comes in to check on us, finding us working hard and in silence. She nods approvingly and leaves without a word, seemingly satisfied with how we’re doing._

_After she leaves I bite my lip and look over at Nathan again: some of the language he’d used about himself had been… troubling. Sure, I’d said and thought worse about him, but I should at least try to talk to him about it._

_“Nathan… you know you’re not a loser, right?”_

_Nathan freezes mid brushstroke, turning his head to look at me. He looks up at me, like I’d just said something completely insane. I continue:_

_“Like… sure, you have terrible people skills, I’ve seen that first hand. But that doesn’t make you a loser. I mean, I don’t know how I come across, but I’ve not always been the best at the social side of things myself. Besides… you’re not that bad to talk to when you’re not being all defensive, you know? Maybe you just need to… worry less?”_

_Nathan just sighs, putting down the paste brush._

_“Warren… can we not talk about this anymore please?”_

_I shrug._

_“Fine, but can I ask one more question?”_

_“Depends what it is…”_

_“Why didn’t you tell anyone I broke your camera?”_

_I watch Nathan’s face as he seems conflicted about whether he wants to answer or not. Eventually, he relents:_

_“Because I… didn’t want my dad to find out about it.”_

_I frown, now extremely confused._

_“Why? You weren’t the one who broke it, I did.”_

_“Yeah… but I think he would’ve thought I was lying if I said someone else broke it. Especially after what happened at my old school.”_

_“Why, what happened?”_

_Nathan looks away and I panic, thinking I might’ve hit a raw nerve._

_“I’m sorry, you don’t have to answer that.”_

_Nathan is still looking away as he says: “S’okay…”. It takes him another minute, but eventually he clears his throat and continues:_

_“When I got expelled from my old school, before I left I went absolutely apeshit. I just started smashing everything in my room, including my television and camera. Dad wanted to kill me for that and I couldn’t really blame him. I think the only reason he let me go to Blackwell at all is because at least he has more control over me here.”_

_“Jesus Nathan…”, I say, breathing sharply. “Do you often lose control like that? Maybe you need to find someone to talk to, like a therapist or something…”_

_“You think my dad hasn’t tried that already?!”, Nathan snaps, glaring at me. Suddenly he widens his eyes, as he quickly tries to collect himself. “S-Sorry, it’s just that I’ve had these issues for a long time and… they’re not disappearing…”_

_“No, I’m sorry. I was being kind of preachy…”_

_We both sit there in silence, trying to avoid each other’s eyes. Christ, how’d I get myself into this situation? Serves me right for being so nosy…_

_“Warren…”, Nathan suddenly murmurs, looking down at his hands. “You… don’t have to try and be nice to me, you know that right? Maybe we should just get on with this?”_

_I study him: Nathan was certainly an emotional roller coaster, going from indifferent to furious in a span of seconds. Still though, I could certainly relate to that feeling, even if I was better at hiding it than him._

_“Nathan: I’m being nice to you because, well… I see you’re actually making an effort. And I can really admire that you know? Plenty of people have flaws but it does take some maturity to actually try and work on them. You’re nowhere near the jerk I thought you were a few days ago.”_

_When Nathan doesn’t reply, I decide to switch tactics._

_“Hey, so I’ve been grilling you for ages now: anything you want to ask me?”_

_Nathan squints, thinking._

_“Not really… oh, wait!”, he says, turning towards me. “Those photos you took from me: don’t suppose you kept them?”_

_I feel my stomach twist._

_“I’m sorry… I threw them away. They’re long gone.”_

_“It’s fine, I suspected that was the case…”, Nathan says nonchalantly but I see his shoulders deflate a little, like he’s disappointed._

_There’s another pause before Nathan opens his mouth to speak again:_

_“Second question: your name.”_

_“My name?”, I frown. “What about it?”_

_“Your last name sounds more like your first name. That… annoys me.”_

_I laugh._

_“Nathan- that isn’t a question.”_

_“Yeah, but it bothers me. I just wanted to put that out there.”_

_I raise an eyebrow at him._

_“Is that the real reason you hate me? Because I’m not actually called Graham?”_

_“Obviously.”, he says sarcastically, picking up the paste brush again. “I think that’s all I wanted to say: beyond that you’re kind of a basic nerd.”_

_“So you don’t want to hear about my tragic backstory then?”, I say, teasing. “I must warn you it involves a movie theatre, a dark alleyway and a gun.”_

_When Nathan looks at me alarmed, I realise he thinks I’m being serious._

_“Nathan I’m joking! It was kind of shocking you didn’t know Darth Vader’s name, but you must know Batman at the very least, right?”_

_“I know Batman! I just don’t see why he’d be at a movie theatre…”_

_“Christ, you’re useless!”_

_“What, because I don’t read comics?!”_

_“No, because you don’t know basic pop culture!”_

_We bicker back and forth for ages, whilst I get back to making information diagrams and he continues with his papier mache work. It’s kind of fun though, since there’s no real venom now to our argument, it’s kind of like the way me and my sister used to interact when we were younger. Before I know it, Miss Grant walks in again, smiling at us when she sees the progress we’ve made._

_“Well done boys! Looks like you both got a lot done today. You two can head off now and remember to be back here tomorrow.”_

_We tidy up the mess we’ve made and wipe down the table before we both leave the room and start walking down the hallway. We look at each other, like neither of us can believe how not unpleasant this session had been. I clear my throat and look towards the school entrance._

_“Well… I guess I’d better go meet Amanda. I promised I’d go to the cinema with her. See you later?”_

_“Uh… sure.”, Nathan says, rubbing the back of his neck. “Have… fun?”_

_I try to suppress another laugh since the way he said it was almost like he was trying to pronounce something foreign._

_“See ya…”, I say, waving as I head off._

_I’m really happy with how today went: I don’t think Nathan hates me that much anymore and while maybe I had pried to much, at least I know he is willing to be honest about his problems, even if I don’t know the whole story yet. But who knows, maybe next time…_

_It turns out in the end that James and the rest of Science Club have invited themselves to me and Amanda’s cinema outing, and while Amanda is doing her best to appear happy, I can’t help the feeling that she’s maybe a little displeased about having so many people joining us. Maybe she’s like me, not good in large social circles…_

Warren blinks rapidly as the vision fades and he finds himself in the present day again, Darth Vader still silently judging him in his hands. He can’t help groaning to himself as he remembers how clueless he’d been about Amanda: had he really been that oblivious at that age?

The conversation younger Warren had had with Nathan was definitely… interesting, to say the least. Of course, he’d always known in his own universe that Nathan must’ve had some anger issues, but he never knew he’d actually been self-conscious when he was younger: the guy he knew had always acted so full of himself that it was hard to believe he’d ever consider the way other people viewed him.

Warren considered that maybe the Vortex Club had played a major part in his Nathan’s transformation: after all, people didn’t get in by acting like good people.

A knock at the door interrupts Warren thoughts, as he puts down the Darth Vader figure and goes to open the door.

To his surprise he finds Chloe standing there, dressed in different clothes from earlier. She’s now wearing a loose white shirt and light blue jeans that compliment her hair. She walks into the room before Warren even have a chance to say hi and starts talking.

“Hey, I know you probably weren’t expecting me, but I just need to explain a few things because I’m freaking out right now and I need someone to talk to who isn’t Max and I know I didn’t give the best first impression earlier and…”

She keeps babbling on whilst Warren just look on, trying to comprehend what she’s saying since he was still feeling a little dazed and headachy from his most recent vision. God, he wished she’d talk a little slower…

Chloe suddenly tuns towards him, suddenly realising that Warren is just looking on, dazed at this point.

“Sorry, I’m probably not making any sense, am I? Let me just start from the beginning, I’m just trying to give you the bigger picture about what’s going on…”

She pauses, pointing at the chair by my desk.

“Mind if I sit down?”

Warren shrugs and she gratefully takes the chair, turning it around and lowering herself to face him.

“So, where do I start? Well, I didn’t believe Max at first when she started talking about predicting stuff, like she was some fucking fortune teller or something… honestly, I started to think that maybe she was just looking for attention. It kind of annoyed me at first but then I started worrying about her, like maybe she was losing her mind or something, but then that’s when… well, something happened.”

She gives Warren a hard glare.

“You promise me you weren’t just fucking with me and Max when you said you were from a parallel universe right?”

Warren nod slowly, wondering where she’s going with this.

“Are you the kind of person that blabs about people’s secrets to everyone?”

He shakes his head.

“Good- guess I can tell you then.”

She takes a deep breath and continues:

“Anyway, one day Max was acting weird, well more weird than usual anyway, and when I started asking her about it, she was weirdly sketchy about it. Eventually, I got her to open up about it and basically, she started warning me to be careful, that she knew something bad was going to happen to me and… well, basically I started to tell her to go get help, that something was wrong with her mind. But sure enough, when I got home from school, there was something waiting for me…”

She goes a bit glassy-eyed at this point, inhaling sharply. She looks up at Warren again.

“Sorry, but I really need to talk to someone right now and you’re a good listener, it’s like talking to a human-shaped rock…”

Warren decided to take that with a grain of salt- she was clearly in a bad place right now.

“Anyway, when I got home I found a letter from my old girlfriend, who left Blackwell a few months back without even leaving a fucking note, and she hadn’t been answering my calls or anything normal people are supposed to do when they decide to run off and pursue modelling. I won’t go into detail but to sum up, she told me she'd cheated on me and that ‘it’s not you, it’s me’, you know, all that crap. I cried, I shouted, my mom and step-ass wondered what the hell was going on and I went out and got wasted. Max found me at the bar, I told her what happened, and she used my whole situation to go ‘I told you so’. I got really pissed off at her, so we started shouting at each other until we got thrown out, we shouted some more, and I stormed off, still really drunk. I remember her yelling at me to come back because she knew something else bad was going to happen that night but I didn’t want to listen to all her voodoo crap, so I just ran off. And, well… I guess you know the rest, right?”

Warren can only stare back, trying to comprehend all that’s been said: she’d said it at a million miles than hour, like any slower she might start getting emotional. Even though she was doing her best to look like she couldn’t care less right now, her rapid blinking and dark circles under her eyes suggested otherwise. She was still really cut up about this. She sticks out her lip and glares moodily back at him.

“Anyway…”, she mutters grouchily. “Just thought you ought to know all that, so you can understand why I reacted the way I did this morning. Like I’m a bitch, but I’m not usually quite that bitchy okay? My usual self probably would’ve treated this all like a joke… but with Max acting all crazy and Rachel betraying me I’ve just been stressed out of my mind lately…”

“Rachel?”, Warren says, intrigued now. “That wouldn’t be _the_ Rachel Amber right?”

“You guessed it.”, she murmurs, picking at the loose fluff coming out of the desk chair. “So I guess she was the queen bee in your universe as well, right?”

Warren nods.

“Yeah, that’s pretty much how I’d describe her. I never talked to her much but I knew… you two were friends.”

Chloe snorts at that. Warren bites his lip anxiously, wondering if he should really be asking this question…

“About the letter… are you sure the letter was really from Rachel?”

Chloe frowns at me.

“Course I’m sure, it was in her handwriting and everything. Granted she didn’t leave a return address but… wait, why are you asking? Why wouldn’t it be her?”

Warren sighs, already regretting bringing this subject up.

“In my universe… she’s missing. Like, there were wanted posters and everything.”

Chloe widens her eyes in horror but quickly try to collect herself, shaking her head profusely.

“No… I’m sure she just ran away. To Los Angeles. That’s what we were arguing about, the night she disappeared. She came around to my house, she had a bag packed and everything. She asked me to run away with her and… I said no. Told her she was crazy, that it was two in the morning and… well, I couldn’t just leave mom, you know? She told me she thought I was different, that I was just like everyone else and well… she left. I never thought she would actually leave without me but guess I was proven wrong…”

She says the last part bitterly, rubbing her eyes as tears start to stroll down her cheeks. Warren reaches out a hand to comfort her, but she puts a hand up to stop me.

“Don’t. I just… need to get over this, she’s not worth it. I just… want to concentrate on helping Max now. I haven’t been a good friend to her this year and I want to make it up to her. These… feelings… she’s been getting are taking over her life now. She can’t concentrate in class anymore, she’s stopped calling her parents because she’s so paranoid- basically if any of this universe-swapping stuff can explain all the weird supernatural shit that’s been happening recently, at least we’ll be closer to a solution.”

She gives Warren a hard stare.

“Can you help us?”

Warren opens his mouth and closes it again, considering his answer carefully.

“I… still have no idea what exactly brought me over here, but maybe if we all work together, maybe we can help each other out? I’m sorry if that’s not much to promise but… I don’t have much to give.”

Chloe looks a little disappointed but at least she doesn’t look pissed off.

“That’s… fine. At least we can all talk to each other now, I guess? Now that we’re all on the same page?”

Chloe stands up and strolls towards the door.

“Sorry for barging in like that Warren, but thanks for listening. You’re an alright guy… wait one more question!”, she says, suddenly swishing round. “There’s something I wanted to ask you, about what you told Max yesterday.”

“Alright…”, Warren murmurs, hoping it wouldn’t be too awkward a question.

“You said I got shot in your universe- who shot me?”

Yeah, definitely awkward.

He considers lying and saying he doesn’t know but that didn’t seem fair to Chloe, who’d been pretty honest with him about some pretty personal stuff. Why shouldn’t he tell her the truth?

“Nathan. Nathan Prescott.”

She looks at Warren, completely gobsmacked.

“Nathan? That quiet photography kid? Like sure, his dad is a jerk, but he always seemed alright… wait, aren’t you buddy-buddy with him? I thought I’d seen you two hanging around school together.”

Warren gives her a heavy stare.

“Things are pretty different in this universe.”

Chloe whistles.

“Jesus… so I’m dead, Rachel is missing, and Nathan Prescott is evil- no offence Warren but I don’t really like your universe.”

Suddenly, a beeping noise starts emitting from her wrist. Chloe looks down at her watch, cursing.

“Christ, I'm late... sorry but I’ve gotta go now, I’m meant to be washing dishes down at the diner. See you tomorrow, yeah?”

And with that she’s gone before Warren even has a change to respond.

Warren put a hand to his forehead: his head was throbbing and it wasn’t just from his vision this time.

So that was the infamous Chloe Price who'd just been in his room?

She really was quite a girl…


	11. Squirrels

Warren managed to have a very productive afternoon: he’d finished his homework, picked up most of his clothes off the floor and emailed his parents, since he still wasn’t able to fully access his phone. He was punching in numbers now, cursing at himself for not having a phone with fingerprint recognition. After fifteen minutes of failed attempts, Warren throws the phone on his bed and walks back over to his laptop, deciding he may as well check up on any updates for news about Arcadia Bay.

He’s right in the middle of watching a local news report about the whole bird business, where an interviewer is struggling to understand the fisherman he’s talking to, when the door to the room opens. Warren looks over his shoulder and sees Nathan standing in the doorway, looking significantly rougher than he had first thing this morning. He’s barely keeping his eyes open and is having to lean against the door frame for support.

“Hey…”, Nathan murmurs sleepily, rubbing his eyes with his sleeve. “You been alright?”

“Yeah, I’ve been fine… are you okay? You look pretty tired.”

Nathan shrugs, dropping his backpack on the floor as he walks over to his bed.

“Just… the usual, you know? How’s Kate?”

Warren is bewildered by the question at first, but then he remembers that’s what he’d told Nathan he was going to see Max about.

“Oh… she told me that Kate’s stable now, but the doctors couldn’t tell Max much more than that. Hopefully she’ll wake up soon and…”

Warren’s voice tells off as he’s suddenly becomes acutely aware of the sounds of soft snoring emitting from Nathan’s sides of the room. He glances over and sees that Nathan has passed out on his bed, sideways on. Warren walks over apprehensively, worried that he might be ill, but Nathan’s face seems fairly peaceful, and his chest is moving up and down in a healthy manner, so Warren leaves him be. He remembers that he had said he’d been up in the night so that might explain why he was so exhausted.

It felt a bit awkward to navigate around the room with his roommate sleeping in the next bed, but then again, he supposed this was what Nathan had had to deal with yesterday evening with him. He tiptoes back to his side of the room, when something catches his eye outside the window: outside he spots Samuel, Blackwell’s janitor, looking up into the branches of a large oak tree. Samuel had always been a little odd in his mannerisms to say the least, but the way he was gazing up right now, it was almost like he was in a trance. Warren watches him for a few minutes, but in all that time he doesn’t move, making Warren worry he might be having some kind of mental breakdown. Maybe he should go out and check on him…

Closing the door of the room softly behind him, so as to not wake Nathan, Warren headed out. When he finally reached the tree where Samuel was standing, he begins approaching cautiously, scared he might take Samuel by surprise. He’d always seemed like a harmless guy but who knew in this universe…

Suddenly Samuel tears his gaze away from the tree to look over at Warren. He smiles softly.

“Hey… Warren, right? Would you like to listen to the squirrels with me?”

Warren blinks at him, unsure if he heard correctly.

“Listen? To the squirrels?”

Samuel nods at him encouragingly.

“Yes! Though I guess it’s not like normal listening really, but you don’t really need language to have a conversation, you know? You just need to understand.”

Warren still has no idea what Samuel’s talking about, but when he looks up in the tree he sees that there are indeed a couple squirrels sitting above them, watching Warren and Samuel intently. At least it was good to know Samuel wasn’t seeing things at the very least.

Samuel keeps talking:

“I mean think about it, I don’t speak to a lot of the kids here because I know a lot of them can say mean words to me, but I can still tell how they’re feeling. Like you and Nathan for example…”

“Me and Nathan?”, Warren asks, bewildered. “What about us?”

“Nathan’s always been a little nervous, he always reminded me of a mistreated animal, always quick to run or lash out. But this year…”, Samuel shakes his head sadly. “He tries to hide it, but I can tell… he feels terrified a lot of the time and he can’t even properly explain why to himself. I feel like it’s been affecting the bond between you two, no?”

Warren looks away nervously: he’d never realised how perceptive Samuel could be. Samuel frowns at him, like he’s just realised something strange.

“Warren- you feel different today. I’m still getting a lot of stress off you but… it’s different somehow. You seem… lost? Did something happen?”

“No!”, Warren says quickly, now panicking. He looks up, desperately looking for a way to change the subject. “The squirrels… is it only you they talk to?”

“Oh no… but I think they are drawn to me more than most people. They’re my spirit animal you see.”

When Warren just keeps looking confused, Samuel elaborates.

“We al have our spirit animals Warren… just that some of us are more in touch with our spiritual side than others. Take Max Caufield for example…”, he says, nodding confidently to himself. “You just have to look at her to know that her spirit animal is a doe: very sensitive about other people’s feelings, good intuition...”

“Plus, her favourite shirt has a picture of a doe on it.”, Warren points out dryly.

“Exactly! Unknowingly she is drawn to that image, the same way I was in my youth. People like you though Warren…”, he says smiling fondly. “You’re more grounded. Not a bad thing to be in this world, but you’re less willing to look for guidance from something you don’t quite understand: a shame really, since I get the feeling you’re looking for guidance right now, yes?”

Warren gapes at Samuel, for a second thinking he might be truly psychic, but then it occurs to him that Samuel’s enquiry was vague enough that it could apply to anything. He smiles back at him.

“I’m not really looking for guidance right Samuel, spiritual or otherwise. But thanks anyway.”

But that only causes Samuel’s head in frustration.

“No Warren! Your feelings are strong right now, they’re unmistakeable- you feel helpless, lonely, not the way you usually feel.”

Warren’s smile wavers at that: it was true that despite the allies he’d found in Max and Chloe, he knew they’d never be able to truly understand what he was going through, no one could. It felt very isolating and having to pretend to be someone else every single day was draining to say the least- what if he broke down one day and got himself carted off to a mental asylum? He really had no good options right now.

“What were the squirrels telling you?”, Warren asks quickly, once again trying to steer the subject away from him.

Samuel looks up at the tree thoughtfully.

“They are telling me they are scared Warren… they don’t know what they are afraid of exactly but they know something terrible is coming. Unlike the birds though, they don’t want to leave. Arcadia Bay is their home and they don’t know where else they’d go. So they’ll stay, even though they know it’s not the best idea. I can respect that, I don’t know where I’d go if I had to leave Arcadia. ”

Warren stares at Samuel, nonplussed.

“You’re saying… the birds left because they were scared? All of them?”

Samuel raises his eyebrows at Warren, like he’s just asked a very stupid question.

“Of course! Don’t you know animals have a much more sophisticated intuition than most humans? The danger they fear may be coming weeks from now, if not longer but clearly they did not want to wait around.” Samuel gazes around him, looking forlorn. “I hate how quiet it is now without the birds, but it was their choice to leave and I respect that. Yes, I respect that.”

Warren notices that Samuel is right about the lack of birdsong: the sounds of starlings that would usually fill the warm evening air were now absent, the only sounds left being  the ruffling of leaves and the distant sounds of motors- it was quite unsettling.

“Samuel- what were the birds afraid of?”

Samuel sighs to himself.

“That I can’t say: animals can’t really define properly what they dread, it’s just a feeling. But I don’t think we have to worry though: humans have evolved to survive nature’s endeavours, against all odds. I do worry for the squirrels though.”

Warren nods, looking up at the tree again: the two herbivores were still staring him down and were unsettling still. If Samuel was right and the animals of Arcadia were predicting upcoming weather or natural events, at least that would be a scientific explanation for what he’d seen this morning…

He turns back to Samuel, smiling.

“Thanks Samuel- I better go get something to eat now, I’m kinda starving. But it was nice talking to you, you seem to know a lot of stuff.”

Samuel beams back.

“You’re welcome Warren! I enjoy talking to you two! I always thought you seemed like a nice person, I’m happy to see I was right!”

As Warren walks away, he can’t help thinking how surprisingly pleasant their conversation was- he’d always thought Samuel was a pleasant eccentric, despite some nasty rumours made up by fellow students, but he always spoke in a vague manner that didn’t suit Warren’s way of looking at the world. After having an actual conversation with him though, he actually made a lot more sense than Warren initially thought: while he couldn’t really get behind the idea of spirit animals, he did appreciate his point about not needing language to connect with people or other species, it was something Warren believed himself.

The way he’d described Nathan though had been a little strange: besides Nathan’s night terrors the first night he’d been in this universe, he wouldn’t describe him as ‘terrified’ exactly: upset and a little bit guilt-ridden, but not scared. What had he meant by that?

Warren decided he couldn’t face canteen food for supper, so he decided to go buy a club sandwich in town. He decides he may as well buy one for Nathan as well, since he probably wasn’t in the best state to go get food on his own right now.

When he gets back to his room, although he tries to close the door gently, the clicking noise still causes Nathan to stir. He opens his eyes, blinking up blearily at Warren. He pushes himself up, yawning.

“What time is it?”

Warren looks at his watch.

“Five past seven. How you feeling?”

“Tired but I don’t really feel like sleeping anymore.”, Nathan mumbles, rubbing his eyes. “Sorry about that by the way- I thought I would be okay today but I started feeling really drowsy about four so Marie had to drive me home. I feel kind of bad for freaking her out.”

Warren doesn’t bother asking who Marie is, since based on their conversation yesterday, apparently he was supposed to know who she was anyway. He offers the sandwich to Nathan who gazes at it with his eyes half open.

“You hungry?”

Nathan pulls a face.

“Not really but I guess I should eat, I didn’t have much for lunch. Thanks.”

Nathan takes the sandwich, unwrapping it. He takes a small bite, chewing slowly. Unlike him, Warren still has his appetite as he starts wolfing down his sandwich appreciatively. Suddenly he remembers something that he should probably tell Nathan.

“By the way, about the whole Zachery and Logan business: we’re off the hook. Apparently after talking to witnesses, the school board decided Logan had it coming.”

Nathan widens his eyes, a large grin growing across his face. It occurs to Warren this is the first time he’s seen him smile today.

“That’s great! I was so worried about that, I thought for sure with the entire football team backing them up, that the school board might be biased. So, you’re not getting punished at all?”

Warren nods.

“I’ve been given a warning, so as long as I don’t punch any more meat-headed jocks for the remainder of the school year, I should be fine.”

Nathan laughs.

“God, I can’t wait to see Zachery’s face next time I see him… it was really shitty of him do that, the last school year and all.” Nathan smiles over at Warren fondly. “Least that’s one less thing we have to worry about, yeah?”

Warren nods, though he knows he’s probably not getting the full context of Nathan’s words. The conversation he had with Samuel is still ringing in his ears…

“Warren…”, Nathan says suddenly, still picking at his sandwich. “Do you mind if we watch a movie tonight? Just that it’s been a while and I need to clear my head before I have to go to sleep again. I’m too exhausted to do anything else.”

“Um, sure…”, Warren says uncertainly, looking around the room. Did he mean watch it on a laptop or something? “What do feel like watching?”

“Can we watch on of your ones? I feel like watching something pretty mindless tonight.”, Nathan calls, as he reaches behind one his massive book forts to pull out a plasma tv. Of course…

Whilst Nathan plugs in the television and finds the DVD player, Warren looks through his own collection of movies beside his bed. He has no idea what kind of movies Nathan’s into so he pulls out a crowd-pleaser and shows it to Nathan.

As Nathan looks at it he chuckles, which Warren finds odd, but he guessed it was just an in-joke he wasn’t getting. Or maybe he just really likes _Back to the Future_?

“Yeah, lets watch that- do you want me to make it dark in here?”

Warren hesitates- he does prefer to watch movies in a darkened room but is also aware that darkness might make things more intimate, that it might make Nathan more likely to want to do _romantic_ things while watching, which Warren isn’t mentally prepared for right now.

“Can… can we keep the curtains open for now? Let a bit of light in…”

Nathan looks a little surprised, but he doesn’t dwell on it long, as he goes over to put the disk in. As the theme song starts playing as the main menu appears on screen, his head starts feeling fuzzy…

_As the credits start rolling, Nathan leans back and hugs the pillow to his chest. I’m glad I convinced him to do this…_

‘NO!’

Warren screams this in his head, as he tries to get back to reality. He’d had enough of these visons for one day, no more…

He smiles as the fuzzy feeling fades and he finds himself back in the present. It had been surprisingly easy to repress it, now that he knew he could do that it would certainly make life a lot more bearable here. Sure his head still hurt a little bit but it was nowhere near as bad…

“Warren!” Nathan yelps, now staring at his face in horror. “What happened?!”

Warren frowns at him, confused by his reaction when he feels a tiny trickle of something fall onto his upper lip. He puts his hand to his face and realises he has a small nosebleed. Inwardly he panics but he tries to look calm for Nathan’s sake.

“It’s… it’s nothing. I bumped my nose earlier and it started bleeding. I guess it’s started again…”

Nathan wordlessly reaches under the bed and brings out a box of tissues: he takes a handful and walks over to sit next to Warren. Before Warren realises what he’s doing, Nathan starts to carefully dab at Warren’s nose, using his other hand to cradle his jaw for support. Nathan’s hands are cool, and Warren can’t help shivering under their touch. In some ways this feels even more intimate than kissing, since at least that didn’t require constant eye contact: he was close enough to Nathan right now so that he could spot flecks of brown in his blue eyes and the way Nathan looked at him with such concern and tenderness, was… agonizing to say the least.

Maybe Nathan can tell he’s feeling uncomfortable because when he stops dabbing at his nose and passes over some wet wipes, he lets Warren clean himself up on his own. He still sits next to him though, watching him in a way that seems very earnest- Warren wishes he’d stop.

As he passes back the wipes to Nathan, he can’t help noticing Nathan’s scar again: he’d taken off his thin jacket, so it was fully on display again and it looked even more painful that Warren remembered, the wound having some streaks of violent red in it, like a very abstract painting. Nathan catches him looking and a distressed look begins to grow across his face. He bites down on his lip.

“Warren…”, Nathan says, his voice catching a little bit. “If something was troubling you, you’d still tell me, right?”

Warren gulps nervously.

“Of… course. Why?”

Nathan tries to shrug half-heartedly, but he can see tears threatening to break out again.

“I don’t know… I guess these last few days, it’s been… different? Like you’re scared to be around me?” Nathan shakes his head. “You know what, ignore me, I’m expecting too much. I don’t know why I…”

Warren doesn’t know why he does it but suddenly he finds himself leaning over and kissing Nathan, his lips soft against his own. This startles Nathan, but he responds quickly, reaching out a hand to stroke the back of Warren’s head. It occurs to Warren that this is the first time he’s been the one to initiate the kiss since he’s been here - no wonder Nathan looked so happy when they finally part lips and he gives him a small but genuine smile. Warren tries to smile back even though his mind is racing right now: why had he done that? To stop Nathan from being suspicious? Because he didn’t like seeing Nathan upset? Why did he keep doing this to himself?

“Do you… uh… want to start the movie?”, he stutters nervously, waving a hand towards the screen.

Nathan nods, still smiling as he walks over and presses play. The credits roll and Warren tries to relax, even with Nathan now leaning against his shoulder as he also sits down to watch. If Warren was going to be completely honest, Nathan needed a shower: whatever he’d been up to today had worked up quite a sweat and sitting this close, it did kind of remind Warren of the smell of a boys locker room.

Nathan wraps his arm around Warren’s waist in a way that resembles cuddling and Warren does his best not to flinch. He has to admit though, as Nathan snuggles in closer and some soft strands of hair tickle his face, that whatever shampoo he used smelled… nice. It was almost kind of piney, reminding him of long hikes he used to go on as a kid…

Warren shakes himself: what the hell was he doing, thinking about another guy’ hair like that, especially one that wasn’t really his boyfriend? He really needed to stop doing this- all he was meant to be doing was try and find a way to get back to his own universe without Nathan getting too suspicious in the meantime, what was he doing snuggling up with him on his bed?

But as Marty McFly first starts wandering around 1950s Hill Valley and Warren suddenly remembers how much he loves this movie, he finds it difficult to not relax into Nathan’s embrace…


	12. Markers

By the time the movie finished, he and Nathan were practically already asleep on each other. It took all Warren’s willpower to stand up and turn the television off before collapsing on his own bed, still fully clothed.

When he opens up his eyes the next morning, he’s happy to find that Nathan didn’t decide to join him during the night; instead he’s in his own bed, sheets tangled around his ankles like he’s been flailing around a lot. Warren looks over at his alarm clock and notes with surprise that it’s six in the morning, way earlier than he’s managed the last couple of days since he’s been here.

Being careful not to wake Nathan, Warren tiptoes out of the room, shower stuff and fresh clothes in hand. He really wants to avoid the usual morning rush for showers, and he especially wants to avoid confronting Zachery or any of the other jocks, not after Mr Well’s decision to not punish Warren. He didn’t think they’d be above stealing his clothes while he’s in the shower or some other sick prank.

As Warren closes his eyes and lets the lukewarm jet soak his face, he tries to go over everything that happened yesterday- it had been pretty overwhelming. It occurs to him that ‘overwhelming’ is a pretty good word to define Chloe Price: while he’d never properly talked to her in his own universe, he’d heard of her of course. She’d been expelled from Blackwell well before Warren himself had joined but he’d heard rumours about her drug use and how she’d been done for damage to public property. Meeting her in person though, had certainly been an experience: while she’d been quite snappy with him yesterday at the lighthouse, it hadn’t taken long for her to expose her more vulnerable side to him. After that little display with the birds yesterday, she’d definitely seemed very distressed about the whole ordeal, almost like it had just confirmed one of her greatest fears…

She clearly cared about Max a great deal, based on what she’d said yesterday whilst she’d been holding him verbally hostage in his own room. Max had mentioned having a childhood friend called Chloe in his own universe but he had no idea it was the Chloe Price she was referring to and honestly, if you told him a few days ago that Maxine Caufield was buddies with Arcadia Bay’s resident wild child, he probably wouldn’t have believed it. But after seeing them interact yesterday… they’d looked… good together? It was hard to explain what it was exactly but the way Max had stood up to Chloe, it was almost like she brought out a spunkier, more aggressive side to her, a side to her Warren wasn’t used to seeing. And Chloe… while she’d done her best yesterday to look angry whilst Max told Warren her whole premonitions deal, he couldn’t help catching the occasional concerned look she threw Max’s way. And who could blame her honestly? If one of his friends starting blabbering about predicting people’s misfortunes, he’d probably assume they were losing their marbles too. It must be especially hard for her to deal with that after the whole Rachel Amber debacle…

He tries to remember what Rachel Amber had looked like: tall, slender, long sleek hair, gorgeous of course. She was the true definition of a Queen Bee, with her looks and all of her extra-curricular activities: high profile member of the Vortex Club, queen of the theatre and a very talented artist- all while continuing to achieve perfect grades. He’d seen her around school but she was a little older than him so their paths rarely crossed. He doubted she’d have been interested in talking to him anyway; after all, she seemed like perfection incarnate, no underling worthy of speaking to her without express permission.

Apparently Chloe Price had been worthy though…

He had heard a rumour back in his own universe that Rachel had been… ‘flexible’ sexuality-wise but then again, Rachel was the kind of girl who had a lot of rumours made up about her- Warren just figured people had a hard time believing in perfection so people liked to make stuff up. People said that she helped sell drugs to students, had sex for money and even that she’d had sex with Mr Jefferson. While Warren highly doubted there was much truth to these rumours, the fact that she and Chloe Price had apparently been a thing did seem to suggest that there had been more to her good girl image than met the eye. Why had she run away? Was she just a free spirit or was there more to it…?

Warren yelped as icy cold water suddenly hit his back. He’d forgotten how quickly the hot ran out; he quickly turned the nozzle off and began drying himself off with his towel. As he threw some clean clothes on and exited the shower cubicle he can’t help glancing around the room: at the walls, the mirrors, the ceiling…

No messages…

Warren isn’t quite sure why he does it, but he approaches one of the steamed up mirrors and begins writing. He steps back and looks at his large, clunky handwriting, almost kind of childish in its execution:

_‘WHO’S THERE?’_

He stands there for about a minute, feeling significantly more stupid as each second passes. What had he been expecting? That a malevolent ghost might start talking to him?

Still he can’t help casting one last look behind him as he opens the door to leave the room. Still nothing.

What is not nothing is when he walks out into the corridor and is immediately attacked by a bright blue bob. He yelps.

“Warren! Sorry about scaring you, we want to talk.”

Warren looks over at Chloe’s shoulder at the mention of ‘we’ and spots Max, looking a little flustered by her friend’s behaviour. She looked kind of different today, her clothes having almost kind of a punk look to them: she was wearing a red plaid overshirt, a sketchy looking vest and torn dark jeans that were just a little too long for her. Warren could only assume she’d borrowed them off Chloe, why he wasn’t entirely sure, but he had to admit she looked… kind of pretty. The darker colours suited her skin tone really nicely and… Warren shook himself. This wasn’t his Max and even if she was, he was about eight-five percent sure she only thought of his as a friend, maybe even higher. So he should at least try not to be creepy.

Speaking of creepy…

“Were you guys waiting for me to get out the shower?!”

“No!”, Max squeaks in panic. “Chloe wanted to go find you, and we just happened to be walking by as you came out.”

“You came looking for me at half past six in the morning?!”

“I did tell her it was a bad idea, but she wouldn’t listen!”

“Hey!”, Chloe interjects, waving a hand across Max’s face. “I am here you know. And I told you, I woke up at five and I couldn’t get back to sleep because all I could think about was what I was going to ask Warren today. Besides, he’s up anyway, see?”

Max just takes a deep breath like she’s trying to contain herself: evidently they’d been arguing all the way here. Warren runs a hand through his damp hair, deciding he may as well be game for this- he did want to start finding out how he could get back to his own universe as soon as possible.

“Well, uh… where do you guys want to go? My room’s kind of out of bounds right now…”

“We’ll go to mine.” Max looks up the boy’s corridor distastefully: it was pretty disgusting right now, with toilet rolls and bits of food cluttering the floor. “It’ll be… peaceful there.”

As Warren wanders through the girl’s dormitory with Max and Chloe, he notes that it’s actually not a lot cleaner than the boy’s area, but at least it doesn’t smell as funky. Max unlocks the door to her bedroom and as Warren enters, he can’t help feeling relieved that Max’s room hasn’t changed that much: sure the photos had changed a bit but she still had the same bedsheets, she still kept plants, the sofa was still here and she even still had that guitar she kept in the corner. After all the weirdness he’d been through the last few days, it was nice to be in an environment that felt comfortably familiar.

Max and Chloe sat down on the bed and Warren didn’t really feel like he could join them, so he sits down opposite them on the sofa. The three of them sit there in silence for a little bit, no-one really sure how to start the conversation. Warren cleared his throat.

“Hey… um… so I thought maybe we could start by drawing up a timeline?”

When the two girls just look at him confused, he elaborates.

“I mean like… well, from the sounds of it Max has been noticing peculiar stuff for a few months now, whereas my life went completely nuts only a couple of days ago. So maybe it would be useful to write it all down, see if there’s any overlap?”

Max chews her lip thoughtfully at this, then stand up to grab a box by her desk. She pulls out a large bit of poster paper and several coloured marker pens. She kneels down and smooths out the paper on the carpet, then suddenly looks up at Chloe who is looking over at her curiously. She hands the black pen over.

“Miss Price- care to write the title?”

Chloe kneels down next to her and starts writing. It’s a little difficult for Warren to read upside down at first but eventually he’s able to see that it says:

“ _Weird Shit That’s Happened.’_

“That’s… actually a pretty good summation.”, Warren observes dryly, as he is awarded with a very small smirk from Chloe.

“Well… who wants to go first?”, Chloe asks, putting the lid back on the pen.

“I’ll go.”, Max says, picking up the purple marker. “Well… it’s kind of hard to say when it first started but let’s say about three months ago.” She writes this down in her delicate handwriting. “It started off as only little stuff, like Alyssa getting hit by a football, someone vandalising Kate’s artwork, Mr Well’s car getting scratched…” She keeps writing, her style getting more and more intense. “But then… I told you about my friend’s accident, but there was other stuff too. My dad broke his leg after falling off a ladder, Taylor’s mom being ill, and there was that huge forest fire not long ago and, well… I predicted all of it. I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen, but I always knew the exact day something bad was going to happen.” Max pauses as she seems to look at Chloe for a sign that it’s okay to continue. She only receives a shrug in response. “Well anyway… the day before I met you Warren, I started getting that feeling again, except I was getting it for a specific person. For Chloe. And that terrified me- I tried to warn her but she wouldn’t listen to me, but then it turned out to be… the letter. I think Chloe’s already told you about Rachel, right?”

Warren nods as he observes both their faces: the mention of Rachel seems to have cast a dark cloud over the two of them. Chloe is looking away, looking a little ill-tempered but he could tell she was hiding some deeper emotions there and Max… the look on her face was one he’d only seen once on her, when she’d seen Victoria Chase showing off her new camera: was she jealous? Chloe and Rachel had obviously been close, was that something that bothered Max? Because Chloe had valued Rachel more than her?

“Max.”, Chloe snaps, putting out her hand. “Pen please.”

Max cautiously hands over the marker to Chloe, who grabs it from her outstretched hand and starts furiously writing a date and the sentence: _‘Backstabbing bitch revealed.’_ She throws the pen back to Max and crosses her arms across her chest, trying to look as nonchalant as she can manage. Max swallows and gets back to working on her timeline.

“Well anyway… I wasn’t drawn to the junkyard until after me and Chloe fought, which was about a few minutes after midnight, I found Kate about half an hour later.” She draws a line over what she’s just written. “Since then, the only weird shit that’s happened is that storm we had a couple of days ago and the birds.” She finishes writing and looks up at Warren with a strange look on her face. “Funny how I never predicted you though…”

“Well you know what Max, you’re not perfect.”, Chloe says, picking up the poster and looking through what she’s written. “You sure that’s all you’ve got to say?”

Max frowns to herself, like she’s deliberating about whether she should say something.

“Well… the past few days, I’ve been getting this feeling… and it’s been different from the others I swear… but I’ve just been getting this… this… _wrong_ feeling. Like you know when you can tell something’s a little off but you can’t quite put your finger on it?”

Warren considers this…

“This feeling… did it start happening two morning’s ago?”

Max chews her lip, thinking…

“I… I think so. Maybe. Why?”

“That’s the morning I got transported to this universe.”

Max widens her eyes.

“So you think… that you coming over might’ve caused something? That maybe everything’s just a little off because you don’t belong here?”

“Geez Max, way to make him feel welcome…”, Chloe mutters under her breath.

“Maybe…”, Warren says thoughtfully, picking up a green pen and beginning to write. “What happened that day was I that I was in Chemistry as usual, class ended, and I started heading back to my room. That’s when I saw you enter the girl’s bathroom Max. But then I saw Nathan Prescott also enter the bathroom and that’s when I started to get worried…”

“Nathan?”, Max frowns. “You didn’t mention he was involved in all this.”

“Oh right… sorry Max, I probably should’ve mentioned this last night but I thought you already knew…”, Chloe drawls lazily, putting her arms behind her head. “Warren here told me I was it was the young Prescott who actually shot me.”

“What?!”, Max shouts, mouth hanging open in shock. She looks over at Warren with bewildered eyes. “Is this true?!”

Warren nods, feeling very uncomfortable bringing this up again.

“But… it must’ve been an accident surely? I know Nathan, we have classes together, he’s always been really nice to me…”

“Max… things are different in this universe. The Nathan I knew…”, Warren shakes his head. “I mean, if anyone was going to turn out to be a school shooter at Blackwell, it would be Nathan. He was a messed up guy in my universe…”

Chloe casts a curious look in Warren’s direction.

“Hey… I think I remember now… aren’t you Nathan’s roommate over on this side? Doesn’t that make things a bit awkward from your point of view?”

Warren sighs. He really doesn’t want to open up to these two about him and Nathan’s relationship, not right now anyway. He was honestly sick of thinking about it.

“I’m… coping. Take it one day at a time you know? Besides, dude’s a lot more pleasant than the version we have in my universe.”

Max stares at him, a strange look on her face that makes Warren feel nervous. Had she heard something about him and Nathan?

“Anyway Warren…”, Chloe says, waving a hand at him for him to continue. “I’m cool with you talking about this, honest: I mean this Chloe isn’t me, so I don’t have to worry, right?”

“Right…”, Warren murmurs not entirely convincingly. “Anyway, then other-Chloe entered the bathroom, I went in the bathroom because I heard arguing and I was worried someone might be getting hurt and that’s when… I saw Chloe on the ground, bleeding from her abdomen, Nathan had a gun by his feet and Max… you were stood there yelling and screaming and that’s when everything started to… stretch I guess? I saw red, then everything went black and… I woke up here. Except it was ten minutes earlier from when I first entered the bathroom, so I was back in Miss Grant’s class. I think… you guys know the rest.”

Chloe scowls at him.

“What? That’s it? You haven’t seen or heard anything else?”

“Not quite… I’ve seen… writing? Like someone’s trying to communicate with me?”

“Huh? What the hell does that mean?”

“Well…”, Warren closes his eyes trying to think back. “First there was some writing in the girl’s bathroom, I think it said: ‘ _How many of us have to die?’_ , and then there was the boys bathroom where… sorry, do you mind if I write this all down?”

Warren turns over the sheet and starts writing down all the mysterious messages he can remember, with Max and Chloe watching intently. He sees Max go a little pale as he writes down the words _‘Die Max, die’_.

“Okay…”, Chloe murmurs, one hand resting her hand against her cheek. “From the look of it, not all of these can be interpreted as friendly… are you sure these are for you? It might be just you interpreting it like that, and these are all just random bits of graffiti.”

Warren shrugs.

“Maybe… but it seems like too much of a coincidence. And I’m almost certain the writing on the side of the lighthouse wasn’t there at first…”

Chloe purses her lips, mulling this over. Suddenly she stands up, grabbing Max by the hand, who seems gobsmacked by her friend’s sudden action.

“Come on you two…”, she says, walking over and grabbing Warren by the shoulder so that he’s also standing up. “We’re going to the girl’s bathroom!”

“What?”, Warren says, yelping as she drags him out of the room. “Why?!”

“To see if your weird ghost writing is still there of course! You’re telling me you’re not curious?”

Warren shivers.

“I really don’t want to…”

“Well tough! We’re going to solve a mystery together, and that might mean doing things you’re not comfortable with. Come on!”

As Chloe goes sprinting off down the hallway, Warren turns to looks at Max who just shrugs in bemusement and starts walking off after her friend. Warren got the feeling that Chloe was the kind of girl who wasn’t forgiving of others who didn’t do her bidding, so he gingerly starts following her too.

As they reach the door of the girl’s bathroom, Warren feels a familiar sickness emitting from his stomach. He hated even looking at the dark wooden door…

“Chloe… I really don’t want to go in there again…”

Chloe rolls her eyes in his direction.

“Why not? You went in there the other day, right?”

Warren’s a bit too embarrassed to admit he’s feeling nauseous, especially in front of Max who’s already throwing him some worried glances. He really didn’t want to throw up in front of the two of them.

When Warren and Max continue to stand still, Chloe makes a hissing noise through her teeth, frustrated.

“Fine- if you two won’t go in, I will. I promise not to get shot, alright?”

After that tactful little comment, Chloe shoves the door open, leaving Max and Warren waiting nervously on the other side. It’s only about five seconds before Chloe pops out her head again, smiling.

“Hey Warren! Guess what, you were right- that message is still here! Come on in, look!”

To his surprise, Max takes Warren’s hand in her own and leads him inside. He guessed she could tell how nervous he really was…

As he enters the room and sees the familiar shiny white tiles, he tries to block out all the disturbing imagery entering his mind and turns to look at where Chloe is pointing: and there it is, the same jagged black letters he’d seen on his first day here:

‘ _HOW MANY OF US HAVE TO DIE BEFORE YOU’RE SATISFIED?”_

Chloe whistles.

“Spooky right? I’ve got to be honest I still don’t entirely believe you’re not crazy Warren, but if this is real, maybe we’ve got a way of communicating with whoever’s doing this. Like, maybe it’s someone from your own universe, and they could tell us how…”

Warren blinks at her as Chloe’s voice seems to get more and more subdued as she goes on and his vision begins to get all blurry. The room seems to be get slowly darker…

The last thing he sees before passing out completely is Max’s worried face as she approaches him, asking: “Warren? Are you oka…”

He feels himself drift into the darkness…


	13. Superglue

_****_

_As the credits start rolling, Nathan leans back and hugs the pillow to his chest. I’m glad I convinced him to do this- I was worried after I walked in on him and his dad earlier, he might try and start avoiding me again._

_I’d forgotten my maths homework so I’d quickly headed to my room to grab it before the lesson started. I’d paused before I entered the room because I suddenly heard the sound of what sounded like an argument emitting from the bedroom- well, I say argument, it sounded more like one older man’s angry ranting with Nathan occasionally weakly interjecting. I thought about just walking away but I really did need the homework so I had cautiously opened the door, giving Nathan and whoever he was talking to plenty of time to realise someone was about to enter the room._

_As I walked in, I found Nathan and a man who looked like he was about in his late fifties, who was wearing a stuffy-looking suit and metal-rimmed glasses. The man looked slightly puffy around the face and his hair was a similar sandy brown colour to Nathan’s, except with significant greying around the temples. He regarded me with a stony glare, obviously annoyed to have been interrupted. I opened my mouth to apologise but I stopped myself when I saw Nathan’s face: his face was bright red and his eyes watery from crying. What on earth was going on here?_

_The man turned towards Nathan- he wasn’t a particularly tall man, but he towered over Nathan who I doubted was even five foot. His scowl deepened as he looked down at him, fists clenched._

_“Remember Nathan, you are on your very last warning. Embarrass this family again and you’ll be out of here before you can even blink.”_

_With that he pushed past me like I wasn’t even there and left the room, slamming the door behind him. I stared after him: I could only assume from what he’d just said that he was a family member of Nathan’s, most likely his father. But the way he’d talked to him had been so strange: embarrass the family? What was this, some bad mafia movie? And the way he’d just brushed past me like I didn’t I exist- that was practically the definition of odd. I think back to my parents, always so warm with everyone they met- had Nathan’s dad never even learnt about even the basics of human interaction?_

_I looked back at Nathan who was frantically scrambling on the floor for his backpack, eyes looking anywhere but at me. He still seemed pretty upset…_

_“Hey…”, I said, stretching out a hand towards him. “Are you alright…?”_

_But he just runs past me into the corridor, not even bothering to close the behind him. I stood there in the middle of the room, very confused about what just happened. If that had been Nathan’s father, why had he been so upset with Nathan? Why hadn’t he felt bad about making his son cry? It wasn’t like my parents never disciplined me, but they never went out of their way to make me feel terrible, they just wanted me to learn._

_I thought about running after him, but I had no idea which way he was headed and I was already late for class anyway, so I just grabbed my homework and hurried for maths class. I wouldn’t even run into Nathan again until detention, about three hours after our awkward encounter._

_I was the first person there for once, with Miss Grant giving me an approving nod as I walked in. Me and Nathan are in her good books right now, since so far we’ve been right on schedule with our project, which should be finished well before the deadline. Miss Grant leaves the room and I start getting my posters out: I have to admit they’re looking pretty good so far. Nathan introduced me to a computer programme that made professional looking diagrams and I’m happy to see they’ve printed out nicely- I just have to stick them down on some cardboard and finish up the moon and star’s diagrams._

_I started working but after ten minutes, I can’t help thinking that it’s odd for Nathan to be so late- to be fair to him, he was usually pretty punctual. However just when I was thinking about going to check if he’s still in our room, he burst into the classroom, a bag of paints under his left arm. Nathan’s face flushed when he spots me, and he didn’t even bother saying hi as he sat down and unpacked his bag._

_I tried to think about how to approach this, remembering the last time Nathan had cried in front of me: he was obviously the kind of guy who got easily embarrassed by this kind of thing, doubly so when it involves family members. I did want to find out what his dad had said to upset him, but I didn’t want him to think I was doing it to be nosy or anything like that. Nowadays me and Nathan’s relationship had almost reached levels of tolerance and I if I was being completely honest with myself… I was almost kind of enjoying detention now. Nathan had almost zero common interests with me but that didn’t stop him from trying to have opposing views on everything I liked: we could argue for hours about superheroes, films, even different types of food- we just seemed to like bickering about stuff that didn’t really matter. It was a strange relationship to say the least, but I’d take it over aggressive Nathan or ‘pretends I’m not there most of the time’ Nathan. I’d hate to go back to that…_

_“Hey Nathan…”, I said, trying to sound just the right amount of casual. “You alright?”_

_“I’m fine.”, Nathan murmured, still not making any eye contact. “Can we just get on with this please?”_

_“Yeah, alright…”_

_And with that we spent five minutes working, not so much as a word passing between us. My mind races, trying to think of something, anything that might dispel this awkwardness, but I draw a blank: as much as teachers raved about my so-called intelligence, in reality I was pretty dense when it came to most things, especially communication. I decide I may as well try the direct approach again, it seemed to be the only way of really getting through to him…_

_“You seemed… upset earlier. I was wondering if you wanted to talk about it?”_

_Nathan paused in his painting, finally looking over at me. He took a deep breath and replied calmly but bluntly:_

_“No Warren. I don’t want to talk about it.”_

_I fidgeted: I didn’t really feel like leaving it there…_

_“It’s just that… was that your dad earlier? He seemed to be really laying into you and I was just wondering…”_

_“Warren!”, Nathan suddenly barked, giving me an all-too-familiar glare. “Drop it okay?!”_

_I bit down on my tongue: so much for that then. Still, I’d already made it awkward so what the hell…_

_“Sorry, it’s just that… I want you to know… you don’t have to be embarrassed about crying in front of me you know? I mean, we all do it, at my last school I… you know what? Never mind. I just wanted to let you know…”_

_My voice tailed off when I realised how stupid I sounded. What the hell was I doing? I’d been stupid to even attempt to try and connect with Nathan over something personal. I should’ve just left it like he asked me too…_

_But to my surprise, Nathan looked towards me thoughtfully, like I’d actually said something that had broken through his usually spiky exterior. After a minute of somewhat of a silent stand-off, he relented, exhaling in frustration._

_“Look Warren, if you really want to know, my dad found out about the camera, okay? He got mad at me, and I started crying because I’m weak. And that’s it, alright? I didn’t tell him it was you who broke it so you have nothing to worry about.  So please leave it.”_

_I was about to nod and do just that but… I couldn’t. I don’t know why but I couldn’t just drop it._

_“Nathan… you’re not weak for crying.” When he just looked on at me stony faced, I tried to apply a bit of humour. “I mean you should see me when my mom gets mad- I just turn into a blubbering mess! Missouri ladies are the most terrifying breed out there!”_

_Nathan didn’t even smirk at that, so I switched back to my blunter tactic:_

_“Hey, I hope you don’t mind me saying… but your dad seemed a bit harsh?”_

_Nathan frowned at me, looking puzzled._

_“What’s that supposed to mean? He thinks I broke a really expensive camera Warren, he has a right to be pissed.”_

_I shrugged._

_“I don’t know… like obviously I wasn’t there for the whole argument, but it seemed a little weird, the way he was talking to you, like…” I shook myself: why was I getting involved in this? “You know what? It doesn’t matter.”_

_We both looked at each other, neither of us having a clue what to say to dispel the uncomfortable mood that had just taken over the whole room. I reached into my bag and took out a packet of chips: I offered one to Nathan, who takes one after a small hesitation._

_I asked him about the paints he was using, he responded in kind._

_He started showing me some metal rings he designed for the Saturn model and how he’s going to attach them._

_I started telling him some interesting facts about Saturn’s discovery by Galileo in the seventeenth century._

_And with that we just started… talking. Like it wasn’t even bickering anymore, it was like a full-blown conversation about completely inane things: whether astronaut food tastes as bad as it sounds, that dog they just left in space, whether we should say Pluto is a planet just to troll the physics department._

_It was almost like talking to…_

_Well…_

_A friend?_

_Pretty soon we ran into a snag while trying to attach the planet models to the metal rods: the superglue we’re using is nowhere near strong enough and I managed to spill some of it across the table as I leant over. We both sighed as we looked down at the mess._

_“Great…”, Nathan muttered grouchily, putting a hand to his forehead. “What do we do now?”_

_“I think with glue we’re meant to soak it …”, I said, walking over to the laboratory sink and soaking a wet cloth. I pressed it down on the sticky patch whilst Nathan cleared up our project and puts it in the storage cupboard for safe keeping._

_While I managed to get most of the glue off the table, you could still see a white outline left behind by the patch. Miss Grant was going to kill me…_

_I looked over at Nathan, smiling wistfully._

_“Oh, to have the TARDIS or Delorean right now, am I right?”_

_When Nathan just blinked at me, I tried to clarify a little better:_

_“TARDIS: Doctor Who? Delorean: Back to the Future?”_

_Not even a flicker of recognition in his eyes._

_I groan._

_“Come on Nathan! Okay, maybe you haven’t seen Doctor Who, it is kind of a weird show. But don’t tell me you’ve never seen Back to the Future! Everyone grew up with that movie!”_

_Nathan cocked his head to the side, thinking._

_“I… I don’t think I’ve heard of it sorry.”_

_My eyes boggled._

_“What?! You’ve never even heard of it? Jesus, how isolated from society are you? Did you grow up in a monastery or something?”_

_“So I haven’t seen some stupid movie! Big deal!”, Nathan spat, scowling at me. I got the feeling he thought I was making fun of him…_

_Whatever, there was a right that needed to be wronged so I just smiled and grabbed him by the arm, causing Nathan to jump. I ignored this, dragging him out of the room behind me, chatting excitedly._

_“Come on, you have to watch it with me! I’ve never watched it with someone who’s never seen it before! I promise you, it’s absolutely brilliant, the best thing to come out of the eighties and…”_

_“Watch it?”, Nathan asked in bewilderment, sliding out of my grasp. “Warren, what the hell are you talking about?”_

_“Back to the Future! Our room! My laptop!” I looked down at my watch. “Now?”_

_Nathan furrowed his eyebrows, like he’s trying to work out a complicated math problem._

_“You… want to watch… a film… with me?”_

_I nodded: was it just me or was he being kind of weird about this? I was just asking him to watch a movie._

_“Uh… why?”_

_I frowned at him, now very confused._

_“Because I want to? I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t.”_

_Nathan looks back at me, still rather perplexed so I nudged him a little._

_“Come on! It’ll be fun! Besides, it’s not that long a film anyway so your time won’t be that wasted if you don’t like it!”_

_Nathan opened then closed his mouth again, like the excuse he’d had on the tip of his lip had suddenly vanished. He sighed to himself, before muttering sulkily:_

_“Fine, whatever…”_

_Before he had a chance to change his mind, I dragged him back to the dormitory, giving him a quick history lesson about the film’s production history as I did so. If I was going to be introducing something as iconic as Back to the Future to someone, I wanted to be at least thorough._

_As we entered our bedroom, I threw my backpack into the corner of the room and started searching through my DVD collection. I breathed a sigh of relief when I found I had indeed packed the entire trilogy and I got to work setting up my laptop. Nathan just remained standing, looking a bit dazed as he looked over at me. I sat down on my bed and patted the space next to me._

_“Sit here.”_

_Nathan blinked at me._

_“What? On your bed?”_

_I held my hands out._

_“Do you see a sofa in this room? Yes, my bed! Come on, it doesn’t smell that bad.”_

_Nathan sat himself down gingerly, his back stiffening as it hits the wall. I passed him over a pillow, since I figured he seemed uncomfortable. At first, Nathan just stared down at it like I’d just passed him a slab of meat, but then he suddenly picked it up and hugged it to his chest, almost like he was holding teddy bear. I can’t help raising my eyebrows: I didn’t expect that from him, considering how condescending he usually was about some of my more immature hobbies._

_And so there we were, me about to introduce someone to one of the greatest pieces of science fiction of all time: I couldn’t help feeling a little honoured as I press play and the credits start rolling…_

_***_

_“Hey Warren?”_

_I tore my eyes away from the computer screen, as I looked over at Nathan who’d been pretty silent these last ten minutes, seemingly engrossed by the introduction to Marty Mcfly’s unfortunate life._

_“What?”_

_“Is Doc Brown Marty’s grandfather?”_

_“Uh… no. They just hang out together I think.”_

_“Where’d they meet?”_

_“I don’t know… honestly it doesn’t really matter, it was the eighties, people actually went out and talked to each other back then…”_

_“Wait, why are those guys shooting at them?”_

_I groan._

_“Goddamnit Nathan! We missed a whole bit there about the terrorists, let me just rewind back…”_

_***_

_“Wait…”_

_“What?”_

_“He just met his own father! Isn’t that already changing history?”_

_“Nathan, if you’re worried about that kind of thing, believe me, you’re in for a long ride…”_

_***_

_Nathan stares at the screen, looking horrified._

_“Is his mom… attracted to him?”_

_“Uhhh… yeah…”_

_“That’s a little bit…”_

_“You think this is uncomfortable? Wait until you find out who Luke Skywalker’s sister is!”_

_“What are you talking about…?”_

_“Just watch the movie.”_

_***_

_“So… he’s meant to get back to the past by being struck by lightning at the exact right time?”_

_“No, he’s not getting struck by lightning, the power cable is…”_

_“Okay fine, whatever, but surely there’s no way they can…”_

_“Nathan! Science-fiction does not have to be scientifically accurate! It’s practically in the name!”_

_“Fine. But why are his siblings disappearing one body part at a time in the photo? Are they wandering around in ninety-eighty-five with missing limbs or something?”_

_“IT EFFECTIVELY COMMUNICATES TO THE AUDIENCE THAT THEY’RE EXISTANCE IS SLOWLY BEING ERASED THROUGH A VISUAL MEDIUM, ALRIGHT?!”_

_***_

_“No, please no, oh God…”_

_“Yeah…”, I say, shifting uncomfortably. “If it makes you feel any better, this is the end of the weird incestual moments now…”_

_***_

_As George McFly finally manages to knock Biff out, I feel a flurry of movement next to my head: I turn to find Nathan sitting there, blushing, holding his fist up.  I raise an eyebrow._

_“Did you just… punch the air?”_

_His face growing progressively redder, he quickly puts his hand back on the bed, muttering:_

_“It’s just… I don’t know… good build up for that moment you know? I mean, George was such a wimp the whole way through and… I don’t know… it was pretty cool that he… actually managed it? Without Marty’s help as well…”_

_“Yeah…”, I say, smiling softly as the romantic music swells and Lorraine takes George’s hand. “It was pretty badass….”_

_***_

_“Wait…”_

_I sigh._

_“Nathan, I swear to God…”_

_“Okay, but just hear me out… why would Marty start disappearing just because some other guy started dancing with Lorraine? It’s not like Marty interfered with anything just then, George stood up for himself just then without any outside forces making him do it. So why would the future start changing if that bit of the past is already written? You know what I mean?”_

_“Nathan… just watch the movie. It’s nearly over.”_

_***_

_“Warren…”_

_“Nathan, I know what you’re going to ask… and yes, it doesn’t make any sense why his parents wouldn’t realise that Marty looks exactly like Calvin Klein from their senior prom.”_

_“No, I was wondering why it took his dad thirty years to finally write about his weird encounter with an alien.”_

_***_

_Fifteen minutes after the credits have finished rolling, Nathan is still complaining about the time travel plot-holes._

_“…why would he go to the past in the first place if his version of ninety-eight-five never existed? Is there a double of him walking around or…”_

_“Nathan!”, I snap, closing the laptop. “I get it, you didn’t like it, there’s no need to go on about it…”_

_“No! I loved it! I’m just confused by it!”_

_I stare at him._

_“You… loved it?”_

_“Yeah! Well…” His face goes scarlet again as he realises how animated he sounds. “I mean… it was alright…”_

_I can’t help laughing at him. When his face darkens I try to reassure him:_

_“Nathan I’m not laughing at you… it’s just funny how you don’t seem to allow yourself to get enthusiastic about anything!”_

_When he just continues to pout, I glance over at the boxset I’d thrown on the floor._

_“Hey… it’s still pretty early… do you wanna watch the sequel?”_

_I notice that Nathan perks up at that._

_“There’s a sequel?”_

_“Yeah! There’s two more actually, it’s a trilogy…”_

_As I’m putting in the disk for the second movie, I feel my stomach rumble and I realise I still haven’t had any dinner. I look down at my watch._

_“Hey, before we watch the next one, do you want to go grab some food in town? The cafeteria is probably closed right now.”_

_Nathan’s mouth twists._

_“You can. I’m not really hungry.”_

_“Really?”, I say, looking over at the alarm clock. “Have you eaten since lunchtime?”_

_“I… don’t really have proper meals, I just snack you know?”_

_I frown at him: maybe it’s because my mother has always drilled it into me that growing boys need at least three meals a day, but I couldn’t help thinking that sounded pretty unhealthy. Was that why he was so small and skinny?_

_“Come on Nathan…”, I say, turning to him as I grab my jacket. “It’ll be fun: we could go get a burger or something? I know a good place in town James took me once.”_

_When Nathan makes no effort to move, I try the sweet-tooth tactic._

_“They do great milkshakes…”_

_Finally, Nathan gets up and slinks over to his side of the room to grab some sneakers._

_Twenty minutes later we’re in the diner, me wolfing down my double cheese burger and extra fries whilst Nathan picks at his plain burger, absolutely no condiments or toppings as specified. He does order a large raspberry milkshake though, and he seems to be greatly appreciating it since he orders another as soon as he finishes._

_There’s a beautiful orange sunset going on outside the window and it fills the whole diner with a warm glow that makes me feel almost kind of sleepy. I look over at Nathan, who is still pretty engrossed in his milkshake but he looks up when he catches me staring. I clear my throat:_

_“So… why’d you like the movie anyway? You didn’t say.”_

_Nathan ponders this, swirling the remnants of the raspberry drink with his straw._

_“Dunno really… it’s not the kind of thing I’m usually into. But I guess it was just… really good? Like the acting, the score, the effects…” He pauses in his stirring, looking out the window. “Plus I guess the idea of time travel has always sounded kind of cool to me…”_

_“Why?”_

_“Just the idea of being able to go back and undo your mistakes I guess…”_

_I want to ask him what he means, but after the whole drama with his dad earlier, I don’t want to spoil the mood again, not when we seemed to be getting along right now._

_“What kind of films do you usually watch?”, I ask, actually a little curious about what he’s going to say: this guy had never seen Star Wars, Back to the Future or the Indiana Jones movies, so what the hell has he seen?_

_“I guess… it changes depending on my mood… like right now I’m into some pretty surreal stuff, like David Lynch and Jean Cocteau and…”_

_When he sees my blank expression at those names, he stops, blushing again._

_“Well… they’re really good anyway, but I don’t think you’d enjoy them…”_

_“How do you know?”, I say, taking another handful of fries. “Tomorrow night it can be your turn: you can pick whatever you want to watch and I’ll promise I won’t complain about it until it’s over. Deal?” I put out my hand for him to shake._

_Nathan looks like he’s about to object but then he catches my eye and slowly starts to grin. He puts his hand out and clasps mine._

_“Deal.”_

_After we shake on it, we remain holding hands for about a second longer than strictly necessary but I can’t help staring at his face: I’d seen him smile for brief moments before but looking at him now, it’s almost unbelievable how different he looks when his features are more relaxed and there’s a small sparkle in those usually dull eyes._

_He looks really happy._

_And that feels… good._

_It feels really good that I might’ve helped to get him to smile like that._

_I unclasp his hand from mine and I smile back, taking the last bite of my burger. They really did cook the best ones around here…_


	14. Naomi Watts

_I raise my head blearily from the pillow as I wait for my cognitive abilities to fully return: me and Nathan and made the brave decision to watch the entire trilogy last night, despite my warnings that the third one was by far the worst. It didn’t help that we’d had a pretty long argument last night about whether the first or second film was better, so we didn’t actually get to bed until two in the morning, which was pretty ridiculous by my standards._

_Still, it had been fun. And at least it was Saturday morning anyway, it was perfectly fine to sleep in until… shit, was it twelve already? I hurriedly get up, throw on some clothes and ruffle my hair a little bit so that it doesn’t look like too much of a bird’s nest. I’m not sure where Nathan’s gone, but he doesn’t usually hang around here much at the weekend anyway; I assume he spends his time at home usually._

_I head over to the library to finish my Maths homework and get started on my English essay, the latter of which I’m really struggling with right now. After spending two hours looking at a poem that literally just described someone’s hallway, I give up analysing the damn thing and start writing an email to my little sister, who I know is pretty bored right now, since she is still recovering from her operation. I send her a fairly lengthy email about my time at Blackwell and I ask her about how she’s doing, and if Dad’s fixed that hole he made in the ceiling yet._

_Once that’s done, I play a couple of online games of chess before I decide to call it a day and go back to school. On my way back, I decide to stop by the supermarket to buy some potato chips and fizzy drink, just in case Nathan was back by tonight for a second movie session. While I’d enjoyed last night, it just wasn’t a proper film experience without some snacks._

_When I finally make it back to my room, I find Nathan sitting at his desk, frowning in frustration at several pieces of inky paper spread out across it. He has his headphones in so I don’t think he hears me as I walk in, unless he’s decided to ignore me again. I tap him on the shoulder, causing him to jump and whip around. He seems to somewhat relax when he sees that it’s me, albeit a bit annoyed._

_“Jesus Christ, would you not sneak up on me like that?!”_

_“Sorry…”, I mutter, raising an eyebrow at the chaotic mess taking up his desk. “You doing homework?”_

_“Maths. It’s the worst…”, Nathan groans, hitting his head on the desk. “I just seem to keep going in circles.”_

_I reach out a hand:_

_“Let me see.”_

_Nathan scowls._

_“I wasn’t asking for your help!”, he snaps, putting his arm over the desk._

_I sigh to myself. This always seemed to happen: just as I think I’m getting somewhere with Nathan, he started acting all prickly again._

_“I just asked you if I could look at it!”, I snap back at him. “Maybe I could just tell you where you’re going wrong, that’s all! Unless you want to keep getting nowhere?”_

_Nathan continued to look surly but after a few seconds, he reluctantly pushes his papers towards me. I take them, feeling a lot less goodwill towards Nathan now that I remembered what an unreasonable jerk he can be sometimes. Still, I wanted to try and stay on good terms with him, so best to try and be the better person._

_After about a minute of looking over his notes, I put them back down on Nathan’s desk and turn towards him._

_“You’ve mostly got the right method, but if you don’t use trigonometric identities, you’re not going to get the right final answer.”_

_When all I get back in return is a blank stare, I grab a chair and a spare bit of pit of pen and paper and sit myself down next to him._

_“Okay, here are all the trigonometric identities and see the answer you got right here? Well from there you can…”_

_Thankfully Nathan seems to pick up what I’m saying quite quickly, since twenty minutes after listening to my advice, he puts down his pen and looks down at his work with a semi-satisfied look on his face. He glances over towards my bed, where I’m currently lying down, tapping away at my laptop. When I catch him staring, his face colours and he looks away. I can’t help frowning over at him._

_“Did you want something?”_

_Nathan shrugs._

_“I guess… I just wanted to say thanks. And sorry for being an ass just then. I… just don’t like not being able to do stuff, okay?”_

_When I start laughing, Nathan quite rightfully looks over at me like I’m weird. I shake my head apologetically._

_“Sorry… just I can really relate to that feeling right now. Can you believe that assignment Miss Bennet gave us? I mean I don’t even know what the poem is meant to be about! Well, actually I do know what it’s meant to be about, it’s about nothing!”_

_“It’s not about nothing.”, Nathan replies, surprising me. I raise my eyebrows at him challengingly._

_“Well? What is it about then?”_

_“Well… I guess there’s no wrong answer to that question…”_

_“Which is another way of saying it means nothing!”_

_“No! That’s not it at all! The author had an intention, but it can be interpreted differently by the reader!”_

_“Well, if their intention was to confuse me they manged it!”_

_“Well, Miss Bennet asked us to interpret what the author is trying to get across about relationships, right? So if you study the text…”_

_“If I study the text, all I get is a poem about some guy walking down a hallway! What’s he supposed to be in a relationship with, a hat stand?!”_

_Nathan grits his teeth and lets out an angry exhale._

_“If you looked at what the items the author chooses to focus on while the point of view character walks down the hallway, you’ll see…”_

_“I’ll see that he’s weirdly obsessed with wallpaper!”_

_“Clearly the marks on the wall are a reference to a previous abusive relationship!”_

_“And clearly you’re overthinking this…”_

_***_

_“But I don’t get it! Why would the room’s colour scheme matter?!”_

_“It’s colour symbolism! It implies the protagonist’s current mood, or why…”_

_“So, you’re telling me that it’s relevant to our assignment that this man chooses to have a red carpet, besides just having awful taste in décor?”_

_“Well yes, red can symbolise love, lust, anger…”_

_“Or maybe the carpet just happens to be red Nathan!”_

_Both of us stop for a breath; we’ve been arguing for about twenty minutes now and I’m now even less sure about what Nathan’s talking about: he seemed to have a completely different way of thinking to me. Granted, I didn’t have much of an imagination but I’m pretty sure Miss Bennet wouldn’t be expecting us to go that much in depth anyway, unless she had some high expectations for the insightfulness of thirteen-year olds._

_Still, it was kind of funny to see Nathan get all heated about poetry of all things: I hadn’t expected that from him._

_I sigh and run a hand through my hair, that was starting to get annoyingly greasy again despite me washing my hair only yesterday. I point over at Nathan’s laptop._

_“Look, I’m tired of arguing about this. Do you want to start watching your movie now? It might get us both to calm down.”_

_Nathan’s eyes dart back and forth from his bed nervously, as he fidgets with his hands._

_“Can… can you choose the movie again tonight? I don’t know what I want to watch…”_

_“What’s this then?”, I say, walking over to his bed and picking up a small pile of DVDs. “It looks like you’ve managed to pick a few out?”_

_“Yeah, but they’re…”, Nathan flails his hand in the air as he searches for a word. “They’re… all kind of weird?”_

_“That’s fine.”, I say, handing the pile over to him. “I’m not that easily freaked out- unless they’re chick flicks. Then I might have an issue.”_

_Still looking nervous, Nathan picks out a DVD out and shows me the cover, which shows a picture of two woman, one dark, one blonde, over the title, which reads:_ Mulholland Drive _._

_“How about this one? It’s the most comprehensible one story wise and… I dunno, I really like it. Not that you have to like it but... yeah.”_

_“Yeah, sounds good.”, I say, walking over to my desk and picking up some fast food flyers. “Hey, do you want to order some pizza? I think they deliver directly to the school.”_

_Nathan looks like he’s about to say no, but then seems to stop himself. Instead he simply shrugs._

_“Sure, if you want…”_

_After ordering one large chicken and pineapple and one small margherita, I sit down next to Nathan, who is setting up the movie._

_“What’s this film about anyway? Is it a film noir or something?”_

_“Err… kind of? I suppose the best way to describe it would be… like being in someone else’s dream?”_

_I stare at him._

_“What does that mean?”_

_“It means that the film doesn’t work in real world logic, it’s all dream logic: like you know in a dream where everything is kind of like your real life, except it’s all just a little bit off?”_

_I shrug._

_“I wouldn’t know, I don’t dream.”_

_Nathan rolls his eyes at me._

_“Oh, come on Warren, everyone dreams.”_

_“Not me. Even when I was a kid I never dreamt, a relief for my parents honestly. They never had to comfort me after a nightmare or anything like that.”_

_Nathan stares at me._

_“Are you being serious?”_

_“Absolutely.”_

_“That’s seriously weird Warren. Maybe you just don’t remember them?”_

_“Yeah, maybe… does this mean I won’t be able to understand your little movie?”_

_“No, it doesn’t mean that, but you’ll probably have to be… forgiving of the less conventional storyline.”_

_I regard him thoughtfully._

_“You know Nathan, I’ve just realise something: you like pretentious arthouse movies, abstract poetry and photography- you’re a total hipster!”_

_Nathan scowls at me, looking extremely annoyed._

_“Am not!”_

_“Are too!”_

_“Shut up!”_

_“I bet you like to visit coffee houses, talk about how lame the mainstream is, wear turtle necks and… OW!”_

_Nathan kicked me in the shin, his aim impeccable as I seize up in pain. Groaning, I shove him in the shoulder, causing him to fall off the bed, his limbs flailing as he tries to get himself up again. He grabs me by the leg and pulls me off the bed and before I know it, we’re fighting again. Except this time it feels different, like we weren’t actually out to seriously hurt each other, but neither of us wanted to give in and admit defeat either._

_It was funny, I never thought I was the kind of guy to enjoy fighting, but as me and Nathan try to tackle each other to the ground, I realise how oddly exhilarating it felt to release all the tension I’d been feeling all week, with tests, homework, detention: it was almost like the play fights I_

_Just as I’m about to get Nathan in a headlock, I look over at the clock and as I realise the time, I shout “Shit!”._

_Taking advantage of me being distracted, Nathan manages to give me a hard shove in the chest, causing me to lose my balance and fall, my body lying splayed across the ground. Nathan tries to stand himself up, laughing wheezily._

_“I… I… won!”, he manages to huff, holding his sides like he has a stitch._

_“Yeah, yeah, whatever…”, I say, picking myself up from the ground. “I’ll admit, you’re not bad at fighting for a little guy.”_

_Nathan’s face turns back into a scowl._

_“Well, you’re terrible at fighting for a tall guy!”_

_I laugh._

_“True that… anyway, I think the pizza guy should be outside school now, just wait a minute!”_

_The delivery guy looks pretty disgruntled when I find him, since he’s probably been waiting a while for me to show so I make sure to give him a large tip as compensation. When I make it back to the room, I find Nathan on his bed, laptop open. I sit down next to him and I can’t help noticing he’s much less tense about sitting next to me compared to yesterday. I hand him over his pizza._

_“So…”, I ask, taking a slice of my own pizza as we sit through some advertisements. “What would you rate this movie? Honestly? Like out of ten?”_

_Nathan frowns to himself, thinking hard before putting up all ten of his fingers._

_I raise an eyebrow._

_“Seriously?”_

_“Honestly… it might be my favourite movie.”, he murmurs, going seriously red now._

_It occurred to me that he seemed to get really embarrassed when talking about things he’s passionate about, so I decide to try and put him somewhat at ease._

_“I bet it’ll be great.”, I say, smiling at him as I point over at his pizza. “You better start eating before it gets cold.”_

_He rolls his eyes at me, but he does put the box on his lap and pulls a slice out, pulling a face when some stringy cheese lands on his jeans._

_As he presses play and the credits start rolling, I lie back, praying that this movie wouldn’t be too boring a watch…_

_***_

_“Wait, who are all these people? Why are they dancing?”_

_“Dream-logic Warren.”_

_“That doesn’t answer my question!”_

_“Look Warren, this film… it’s best watched if don’t question things too much. Just think of it as an emotional experience, alright?”_

_“But…”_

_“Just watch it Warren.”_

_***_

_“Wait, why are they trying to kill her…?”_

_“Warren, I told you, quit asking questions…”_

_“Wait, what the hell?!”_

_My mouth falls open in shock as another car suddenly smashes into the car with the dark-haired woman in it at high speed and sets on fire._

_“What the hell? What just happened there? Did Michael Bay direct this? Wait… she’s just walking away from that?! And she doesn’t even have a scratch on her?!”_

_“Dream-logic… just accept it alright? It’s not going to get any less weird from here…”_

_***_

_“Wait, is that Naomi Watts? She was in King Kong!”_

_“I guess…”, Nathan shrugs, like he doesn’t really know._

_“So are those old people her grandparents? Why is she…”, I feel my words dry up as I watch the old couple acting peculiar in the taxi. “Why are they being so… creepy?”_

_“I don’t know, because the director wants to creep you out I guess. Just stop talking over it, okay?”_

_***_

_“Who are these two guys? Are they detectives or something?”_

_“Just watch it Warren…”_

_“Wait, why is he going behind the diner? I thought he said there was something terrible behind the diner?”_

_“Maybe… he just needs to see it with his own eyes?”_

_As the camera pans towards the back of the diner, I feel my heartbeat quicken and my palms begin to sweat. Geez, why was I so nervous about this? It would just be a quick jump-scare or something…_

_But the wait is unbearably long, as the guy slowly makes his way towards whatever was back there. I can’t even speak anymore, I just really don’t want the guy to go behind there…_

_When the horrifying sight is finally revealed, I yelp and cover my eyes. I think I can hear Nathan chuckling beside me but I can’t be bothered to look, I really don’t want to look at the screen again in case it’s still there._

_“Don’t worry… it still scares me too!”_

_***_

_“Wait who are these people? What girl is missing? The dark-haired one?”, I ask, hand in my chips packet. When I feel stressed, I eat and this film just keeps putting me on edge. “Wait, is that a picture of Naomi Watts they’re showing him?”_

_“No Warren, that’s another blonde girl.”, Nathan replies dryly._

_“Why do they keep saying ‘this is the girl’?”_

_“Because she’s the girl Warren.”_

_“But…”_

_“She’s the girl Warren.”_

_***_

_“Wait, why did he just kill that guy?”_

_Nathan just ignores me and continues to watch, so I try to do the same. But it doesn’t take me long before I have another outburst._

_“He killed that woman too?! And the guy hoovering?! Who is he?!”_

_“I don’t know.”_

_“What do you mean you don’t know?! You’ve seen this movie before!”_

_“I told you, dream…”_

_“Oh, shut up.”_

_***_

_“Is that Naomi Watts?”_

_“No Warren, that’s a different blonde girl.”_

_“Who is she?”_

_“Girlfriend? Prostitute? I’m not sure honestly.”_

_***_

_“Wait, that’s Billy Ray Cyrus!”_

_“Uh… yeah, you’re right.”, Nathan says, looking over at me in surprise. “How do you know that?_

_“My sister loves watching Hannah Montana… but why is he in this movie? Is that the director’s wife he slept with? Wait… why is he putting pink goo all over her jewellery box? No…”, I say putting a finger up to Nathan’s face as he parts his lips to answer. “If you say dream-logic, I swear to god…”_

_Nathan squints, like he’s considering his answer carefully._

_“It’s… up to interpretation?”_

_***_

_“Is that Naomi… no, wait, it’s not, my bad. She’s sitting right there…”_

_“Do all blonde women look the same to you?!”_

_“Short-haired ones, yeah…”_

_***_

_“Nathan… he’s talking to a cowboy. Why is he talking to a cowboy?!”_

_“Warren, please just listen to what they’re saying…”_

_“Fine… what did he mean by you’ll me two times?”_

_“One time if he does good, two times if he does bad actually.”_

_***_

_“Wait, that’s the girl!”_

_“Yes Warren.”_

_“So this is an audition right? Is Naomi auditioning too? Wait, why is she running away? Does she know the director?”_

_“Spoilers…”_

_***_

_“Holy…”, I put a hand over my mouth as the camera pans over the decaying corpse. Thankfully it doesn’t linger too long, but I still feel a wave of nausea wah over me. I’m quite queasy about blood and dead bodies at the best of times, and this movie was already making me feel uneasy._

_“Hey, are you okay?”, Nathan asks, which tells me that I must look pretty terrible right now._

_“Yeah…”, I say, feeling sick as I look down at my chips. “Do you… uh… mind putting these away?”_

_***_

_As I watch Naomi Watts and the dark-haired woman make-out, I can’t help grinning over at Nathan._

_“So… is this why this is your favourite movie of all time?”_

_Nathan doesn’t reply but he does throw a well-aimed pillow at my face._

_***_

_As the song ends, Nathan looks over at me and blinks in surprise._

_“Are you… crying?”_

_“No!”, I gulp, rubbing my eyes. Christ this was embarrassing… “I think… the herbs they used on that pizza set off my allergies.”_

_That song though… the way that woman had performed it, how it kept going even when she collapsed, the intensity in her voice… it was like nothing I’d ever experienced before._

_***_

_The dark haired woman puts the key into the lock…_

_“So are we finally going to see what’s inside the blue box? I’m guessing it’s… wait what? What?” I gape at the screen. “WHAT?!”_

_“Hold on, you’re in for a long ride now…”, I hear Nathan mutter._

_***_

_“So she’s not…? And he’s? Why are they…? What?!”_

_“Warren, just pay attention and then you might figure out what’s going on.”_

_***_

_“Wait, why is she doing this?! Because she dumped her?! That’s a little bit…wait, that’s the blue key again! What’s going on?!”_

_“Dream-lo…”_

_I throw the pillow right back at him._

_***_

_I clench and unclench my fists on the bed as I squeeze my eyes shut. I feel Nathan gently tap my shoulder._

_“Warren, you should really watch this…”_

_“No, I don’t want to go behind the diner again!”_

_***_

_‘Silencio…”_

_As the woman utters that last word and the credits start rolling, I finally let my body relax again, suddenly aware of how stiff I’d been this last hour or so. Nathan looks over nervously at me._

_“So… uh… what did you think?”_

_I blink rapidly, completely bewildered: what did I think? This film had been like nothing I’d ever seen before, it had made me feel things I didn’t know films could make me feel. But had I actually liked it?_

_“I think… I thought it was kind of… brilliant honestly?” Nathan’s face brightens up at that. “But I… didn’t… really… get it?”_

_“That’s fine, you’re not really meant too get it the first time anyway. I mean, I still don’t quite get it.”, Nathan shrugs, closing his laptop and putting it back underneath his bed. I was so confused._

_“But why? Why make a film that you can’t understand the first time you watch it?”_

_Nathan frowns at me, but not like he’s angry, but more like he’s thinking quite hard about it._

_“I mean… I’m no expert in film but… I guess it’s interesting for directors to see how viewers individually interpret what message they think they’re trying to get across, especially when they don’t spell it out for you. Besides…” Nathan murmurs, absentmindedly picking at a loose thread on his mattress. “I guess… you don’t always need to understand something to like it, you know? Like the emotion still comes through if you’re a good director?”_

_I consider this idea._

_“Yeah… I guess I get what you mean. Like when I saw Star Wars for the first time, I was too young to fully understand it, but I still knew it was something amazing. My favourite scene is still that bit where Luke is staring out at the two suns of Tatooine, it just really spoke to me as a kid for some reason, you know?”_

_I notice that Nathan’s face goes a bit blank when I utter that last sentence and I suddenly remember he’s somehow never seen Star Wars._

_“Okay, next time we do this, I have to make you watch Star Wars. I promise you, it’s the best! Even better than Back to the Future!”_

_Nathan rubs his shoulder, giving me an odd look._

_“You… don’t have to do that Warren. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed this but I… don’t need you feeling sorry for me because I have no friends. That’s my own fault.”_

_I stare at him._

_“Wait, you think I want to watch films with you because I feel sorry for you?”_

_Nathan shrugs, swivelling his eyes away from mine._

_“Well… I don’t know why you’d want to hang out with me otherwise. We’re not exactly buddies.”_

_I sigh: he really was a frustrating person to talk to a lot of the time._

_“Nathan…”, I say firmly, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Listen to me: I don’t hang out with people because I feel sorry for them, alright? I hang out with people because I enjoy their company, and I’ve enjoyed yours. I actually think it’s kind of cool you’re into weird movies and somehow managed to avoid every single piece of great science fiction these last fifty years- it’s interesting to say the least. So yeah, I’m enjoying these movie sessions with you. But… if you don’t want to do this anymore because you still hate me fine- but I don’t feel sorry for you.”_

_Nathan finally looks back at me, his expression still a little anxious but somewhat more open._

_“I… don’t hate you. Not anymore anyway.”_

_I feel a smile grow across my face._

_“Good! I don’t hate you either! So we on for another movie night… buddy?”_

_Nathan usual scowl returns._

_“Don’t call me buddy.”_

_“Fine… pal.”_

_Anther well-aimed pillow hits me square in the face…_

 

“Warren? Warren! Wake up!”

Warren squints at the face above him, as his eyes try to adjust to the fluorescent light. He was… in the bathroom? But he’d been in his bedroom just now hadn’t he? Where was…

Suddenly his memories from the last few days come flooding back to him, as he quickly sits himself up, regretting it immediately as a sharp pain resonates across his temple. He groans and puts his head in his hands, whilst Chloe gently shakes his shoulders.

“Warren? Speak to me Warren! You passed out just then- are you alright?”

“Chloe… just let me… my head… it hurts…”

Suddenly Chloe runs out the room, and as she exits the door Warren hears her yell: “Max! He’s awake!”

Suddenly both girls run back into the room, Max holding a phone in her hand, looking extremely agitated.

“Warren! Are you okay? I was just about to call an ambulance: do you need one?”

Warren shakes my head and tries to stand himself up. The sharp pain was quickly fading but he was still aware of a dull throbbing emitting from the back of his skull, like he’d been hit by a football. Max holds out a hand for him and he takes it gratefully.

“Warren? Are you sure you don’t want to get checked over? We could…”

“How long was I out for?”, he croaks, his voice surprisingly hoarse.

Max blinks at him.

“I don’t know? A few minutes, maybe? Definitely less than five minutes.”

Warren groans into his hands: _‘A few minutes?!”_ , he exasperates to himself. Why had it been so much longer this time?! It was like he’d been away for over a day!

“Warren?”, Max says, placing a hand tentatively on my shoulder. “Let’s go back to my room, alright? We can all talk there…”

While his legs are still a little bit wobbly, Warren manages to follow the girls back to Max’s room with no extra assistance and as he takes a seat on Max’s sofa, he’s already feeling a lot more clear-headed. Both the girls look over at him, a worried line between their eyes: he figures they’re worried he’ll collapse on them again, so he decides he’d better try and reassure them.

“I’m… alright now. And I think I might know why I fainted back there, but I’ve got to warn you, it’s a long story.” He glances down at their poster that’s still laid out on the floor. “Do you mind passing me that? I’ve got a few things I want to write down.”

Taking the poster and proffered pen, he starts writing down some dates.

“Okay… so I forgot to mention this to you guys earlier, but just before I was transported to your universe, I heard this… voice, alright?” When Max and Chloe give him a horrified look, Warren panics, thinking they might start thinking he’s just crazy but he can’t exactly stop himself now. “This voice… it kind of sounded like… my voice? Except it was a little different and it kept talking about… darkness, how he couldn’t see anything. He was… scared.”

Warren shivers, his nostrils filling up with the memory of a bloody smell… he shakes himself and tries to carry on.

“Anyway… that night, I experienced… a memory, I guess? Except it wasn’t my memory, it was a other-Warren’s memory, the Warren from this universe. So these past few days, I kept experiencing flashbacks from his life, memories of events I haven’t personally experienced and after each flashback, I felt tired and I get really intense migraines. It’s annoying to say the least, and last night… I managed to repress a memory. I don’t know how I managed it, maybe it was because I expected it that time, I don’t know… but it didn’t go perfectly. My nose started bleeding and today, it was so much more… intense today. Like this is the first time I’ve ever passed out from it, so it’s almost like… I don’t know, I was being punished for trying to repress it or something.” Warren pauses in his rambling, trying to gauge Max and Chloe’s reaction but honestly, their expressions were a little hard to read right now. “So yeah… now you guys know. Anything you want to ask?”

Chloe is the first one to speak:

“So… what kind of memories are they?” she asks frowning, balancing her chin on her palms. “Like recent or from a long time ago?”

Warren rolls his eyes back, thinking.

“Most of them… from a while ago, when other-Warren was nearly thirteen or something. But the first one I experienced was fairly recent, like it might’ve happened only a few months ago. Why?”

Chloe rubs her hands together, eyebrows furrowed.

“I was just thinking… maybe this is other-Warren’s way of trying to get through to you? Like maybe he’s trying to give you some clues for finding out how to get back to your own universe?”

Warren snorts.

“Well, if that’s what he’s trying to do, he’s doing a really bad job at it. Literally nothing I’ve seen can help me in anyway. Besides making me confused I guess.”

“Confused?”, Max asks curiously. “In what way?”

Warren fidgets uncomfortably.

“I mean… with feelings and stuff I guess…”

“Meaning?”

Warren sighs to himself: can he really tell them? He’s been honest about everything else so far, so why not?

“Well… you know how I said how Nathan is kind of a terrible person in my universe?”

Both girls nod.

“Well… in this universe… apparently I’m… well… me and him are…”, Warren takes a sharp intake of breath and blurts it out: “Me and Nathan are boyfriends in this universe!”

Max’s face barely changes at this little nugget of news, but Chloe’s eyes widen and it looks like she’s trying to suppress a smirk. Finally she collapses into a fit of giggles, much to Warren’s humiliation. When she finally collects herself, she smiles at Nathan, her eyes still watering.

“Damn Warren…”, she wheezes, rubbing a sleeve across her face. “You really can’t catch a break can you?”

Max rolls her eyes at her friend and stands up, grabbing her backpack off the floor.

“Well, if you’re done Chloe… lets go and see if we can find the rest of those messages across the town, like the one in the bathroom. I want to take some photos for evidence.”

Chloe shrugs.

“I’m game. Come on Warren…”

“No, Warren just passed out, he needs to go rest.”

“I can’t just stay here!”, Warren retorts angrily. “I feel fine!”

“Maybe so, but I don’t want you passing out on us again, especially up by the lighthouse. If you want to help us, do some research online, see if there were any other crazy weather events before you came here.”

“Fine…”, Warren mutters sulkily, seeing her point. “Can I meet you guys again soon?”

“Definitely.”, Max replies, putting her camera into her backpack. “Same time tomorrow?”

“Yeah sure… as long as Chloe’s okay to sneak in again…”

“Sneak in?”, Chloe asks, her eyes quizzical. “Why the hell would I need to sneak in?”

Warren frowns at her.

“Because you don’t go to this school anymore? You’re expelled?”

Chloe shakes her head, looking somewhat amused.

“I mean, I’ve had some close calls, but I’ve never even been suspended, much to my mom’s amazement. So other-Chloe got expelled, huh? Damn…”, Choe whistles. “Let me reiterate Warren: I really don’t like your universe. It just seems to keep screwing me over.”

Warren leaves the girls outside the school entrance, whilst he heads towards the library, since he doesn’t really want to go and face Nathan today, not after that super-long memory he’d had today. He didn’t want his feeling and actions getting confused again, leading to even more awkward interactions with his not-boyfriend.

After doing six hours of research with the occasional snack break, Warren is satisfied he has enough information to report back to Max and Chloe tomorrow. Granted, a lot of what he found could be explained by natural causes, but at this point they had to take anything out of the ordinary into account.

After heading out for food and spending a few hours down at the beach, trying to clear his head, Warren gets back to the dormitories at about eleven at night. He closes his door softly behind him, thankful Nathan isn’t too restless tonight.

As his head hits the pillow, thoughts of blood, lightning storms and squirrels whirl around his mind until he slowly sinks into the land of sleep…

***

A thumping sound wakes him up.

He has no idea what time it is, but he knows he can’t have been asleep that long because it’s still pitch black outside. As his eyes adjust, he sees a figure standing in the corner of the room, facing him. At first he panics, but then he remembers Nathan, that he was probably just having some trouble sleeping again…

But then he looks over at Nathan’s bed, and sees Nathan lying across it, his eyes closed and his chest moving slowly up and down.

But if he was there, who was…?

Warren sits there, petrified as the figure just continues to watch him, their eyes big and eyes glassy, mouth open. His eyes adjust further, he recognises that slim figure, that brown mop of hair, the deer shirt…

Except the shirt is bloody, her hair is thin and matted, there are cuts all over her face…

Warren opens his mouth but no sound comes out, he can’t even breathe.

The figure steps towards him…

He screams. He screams again, he can’t help it, he’s literally not capable of anything else right now…

Nathan’s eyes fly open and he runs towards his bedside.

“Warren? Warren! What happened? Are you okay?”

“I… I… there was…”

But Max had disappeared, that corner of the room was empty except for some discarded clothes. He gapes, trying to comprehend whatever he just saw. Had he been hallucinating or…?

Nathan’s holding his hands, his eyes pleading. Warren tries to reassure him:

“It’s… it’s fine. Just a stupid nightmare.”

If anything Nathan looks even more distressed and confused. He grabs Warren by the shoulders.

“Warren, what are you talking about?! You never have nightmares! You don’t even dream!”

And with that, Warren lets out a huge sob, because he knows what Nathan said is true.

Either what he just saw was real, or he was losing his mind…

Either way, it was horrifying.


	15. Roof

It took a while to convince Nathan that he was okay and to just leave him alone to sleep: granted he might’ve been a little harsher about it than strictly necessary, but at this point, he just couldn’t bring himself to care. He hadn’t asked to take over someone else’s life and Nathan’s pleading eyes and affectionate touches were really getting on his nerves. Maybe if he was less tired, maybe if he wasn’t haunted by the memories, the messages and a demonic version of his best friend, perhaps then he’d be more patient but as it was, he was barely keeping it together. Would the visions just keep on getting worse, would he ever find a way to get back to his own universe? Was any of this even real, was he locked up in some mental ward somewhere, hallucinating about being in parallel universe?

It occurred to him as these worried thoughts continued to swirl around in his head, that he was unlikely to get any sleep tonight…

It isn’t until about five in the morning that he gives up completely and he sneaks out to do his usual shower routine, hoping a hot spray of water will make him feel less groggy. As he enters however, he can’t help making a quick glance over towards the mirror, remembering the steamed-up message he’d written the other day. Someone had written on the mirror in black marker pen…

Even though Warren expects a weird, cryptic message, he still can’t help his hands shaking a little as he whispers the words on the mirror to himself:

_‘Who is this???”_

Well, that confirmed it at the very least. No chance of this being a series of coincidences now…

After taking his shower and brushing his teeth, he heads over to Max’s room. He doesn’t care how early it was, he needed someone to talk to right now; also, he felt the need to check she hadn’t turned into a weird, bloody ghost during the night.

As he knocks at her door, he hears a disgruntled noise coming from inside. When no one seems to be coming to unlock the door, he knocks again with a little more force. He thinks he hears someone curse and thirty seconds later, the door is flung open, revealing a dishevelled-looking Maxine, who blinks sleepily at Warren, absentmindedly adjusting her pyjama shirt. At the very least, she still looked relatively normal…

“Warren?”, she moans, rubbing her eyes. “Do you know how early it is?!”

“Sorry, I know…”, he says, frowning over her shoulder as he hears… was that someone snoring inside? “But there’s something need to tell you. Mind if I come in?”

Max hesitates, like she’s trying to think of a good reason to say no, but then she simply shrugs and gestures inside.

“Alright, but… just let me wake Chloe up first, okay?”

“Chloe?”, he says, widening his eyes in surprise. “I thought you didn’t have a roommate?”

Max blushes.

“I… I don’t. But we stayed up quite late looking at the photos we took and… I told her she could stay here for the night. You won’t tell anyone, right?”

“Of course not!”, he says, feeling a little offended that she’d think he’d be a snitch.

As Max goes back into her room, Warren can hear what sounds like muffled arguing coming from inside. After about maybe a minute, the door opens again and Max motions for him to come in, looking a little more flustered than before. As Warren steps in, he sees Chloe still sitting in Max’s bed under the covers, looking quite sulky that she’d been wakened from her presumably peaceful slumber. It occurred to Warren that there was only one bed in this room, and Max’s couch didn’t look exactly comfortable to sleep on.

Was it normal for two friends who were girls to sleep in the same bed together or…?

Warren’s thoughts are interrupted as Chloe gets up from bed and sarcastically greets him:

“And how are you this fine morning Mr Warren? Trying to catch the early worms I see, now that there aren’t any birds left in Arcadia to catch them…”, she stops in her rambling to frown at him. “Damn Warren, you look like shit today. Did you get any sleep last night?”

“That’s what I need to talk to you guys about…”, he says, looking over at Max. “Before I say anything though... Max, you weren’t in my room last night, right?”

“What?!”, Max yelps, looking shocked by the question. “Of course not! Why the hell would you ask that?!”

“I was just making sure…”, Warren murmurs, looking over at the two girls who are now throwing worried glances at each other. “I’m asking because… last night I saw something in my room that I wasn’t sure was real or not. I thought I saw a girl in my room last night, a girl that looked a lot like you except way creepier and she disappeared as soon as I started yelling. So…” Warren puts his hands out. “What do you guys think that means?”

“Warren…”, Max says quietly, putting one hand cautiously on his shoulder. “Are you sure you weren’t dreaming? You’ve had a lot on your mind recently…”

“Max, I never dream.”

“Are you sure about that? Maybe you just don’t remember…”

“I’ve never had a dream, even as a little kid. And neither has other-Warren, so it can’t be his body doing this to me.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying… either I’m going crazy or someone was in my room last night. And if the latter is true, it’s got to have something to do with all this parallel universe stuff, right?”

“Right…”, Max mumbles, still looking confused. “But why…?”

“Maybe it’s both?”

Warren and Max turn to look at Chloe who’s now writing something down on their evidence sheet from yesterday. She glances back up at them

“I mean… after all that weird weather and bird stuff, I can’t actually believe anymore that all this is just going on inside your head Max. And all these weird messages we saw around town? It’s possible you’re just playing some really elaborate prank on us Warren, but I don’t know why you’d go to so much effort to do that in the first place. So yeah, maybe I do believe you’re actually from another universe Warren- but that doesn’t mean you aren’t going crazy and seeing things, like this weird girl in your room last night. Everyone has a breaking point, and who knows, maybe you’ve reached yours.”

“That isn’t very comforting Chloe.”

She shrugs at him.

“I don’t know, my theory seems a hell of a lot more comforting than the idea someone is sneaking into your room that night. I think you should honestly forget about it and try to relax, because I think the stress is causing you to crack.” She pauses. “So, is that all you wanted to tell us?”

“Well…”, Warren says, thinking. “I saw another message today, in the boy’s shower room. I think it might be answering something I wrote yesterday…”

“Something you wrote yesterday?”

“Yeah, I wrote ‘ _Is anyone there?_ ’ on one of the steamed-up mirrors. I don’t know, I wasn’t really expecting a reply, I was just messing around…”

“What was the reply?”

“It said: ‘ _Who is this?_ ’.”

Chloe gets up, revealing her long legs.

“Max, get your camera. Now.”

Max blanches.

“Chloe, I am not going into the boy’s shower room. What if someone walks in…?”

“Max, it’s five-thirty in the morning- no one will be there right now, come on.”

And with that the three of them head towards the shower room, Max skulking behind Chloe and Warren reluctantly. As they enter, Warren points towards the mirror with the message on it, and Chloe inspects it, one hand on her hip. She glances over at Warren.

“And it definitely wasn’t you who wrote this?”

“Course not! Why would I?!”

“Lets just say Warren, if this all turns out to be some kind of elaborate prank you’re pulling on us, I’ll make you sorry you were ever born. Otherwise, I’ll admit this newest message is interesting: it seems to imply that there is someone listening to us on the other side.”

“Other side of where?”

“I don’t know Warren, the Netherworld? I’m not exactly an expert on this kind of thing…”

“But why are they trying to contact me?!”

“Guys?”, Max interrupts timidly. “Can we get out of here now?”

“Sure…”, Chloe murmurs, eyes still locked onto the mirror in front of her. “Just take the picture first, would you?”

Max obliges, the picture developing seconds after a bright flash of light that makes Warren shield his eyes. They’re about to leave the room when Max and Warren notice that Chloe still hasn’t moved from the spot she’s standing. She looks over at Max and Warren.

“You guys go on ahead, I just need to do something here…”

They both leave her and head back to Max’s room, both kind of curious about what Chloe might be up to but too tired to really feel bothered to properly inquire.

As they enter her room, Max takes out what looks like a corkboard from underneath her bed. After seeing the bemused look on Warren’s face, she explains:

“Chloe’s step-ass… I mean, step-dad has a lot of these lying around the house, so we thought we’d take one for our research. We stuck up the photos of all the messages around town and that poster we made yesterday, see?”, she shows him, whilst sticking down her latest photo.

“Huh…”, Warren mutters quietly, admiring her handiwork. “This is pretty cool… we look like actual conspiracy theorists now!”

Max can’t help giggling at that and Warren smiles at her warmly- after the night he just had, it was nice to have people he could talk to without having to put on an act. He almost felt a little better.

Chloe comes back into the room just that second, her face unreadable. She raises an eyebrow at them.

“Something funny?”

“I’m just showing Warren the weird board we made last night.”

“Oh, right. Best crafts project we’ve done in a while…”, Chloe drawls, her back still against the door. “Anyway Warren, you get any research done last night? About any strange goings-on in Arcadia?”

“Oh, right that…”, Warren says, scratching his head. “Well, I didn’t find anything too out of the ordinary, but there have definitely been some strange weather patterns going on in this area the past few days: there’s been some pretty extreme winds out at sea, apparently it’s really affecting the local fishing industry. There’s also been some rapid temperature fluctuations in this area, scientists are trying to relate it to the recent lightning storm we had…”

“Have you got anything to tell us besides the latest weather report?”

Warren tries to grasp for anything more relevant:

 “Well… besides that, there’s been plenty of complaints from local business owners about kids doing graffiti on their store fronts, so that might be worth looking into… maybe there’s some more messages we haven’t found yet? There was also that forest fire that was reported a few weeks back…”

“Wait, what?”

Chloe stares at him, her eyes wide. Warren can’t help finding her reaction strange, what was so significant about a forest fire?

“Uh… well, the fire was put out fairly quickly and no one was hurt but no perpetrator was found. According to the police report, they suspect it was a barbeque someone forgot to put out, something like that anyway.” He pauses. “Chloe, do you… know anything about this?”

Chloe is silent for a few seconds before shaking her head profusely, a dark look on her face. She gets up and pushes Warren towards the door.

“Well, it’s been fun talking to you Warren, but next time, wake us up when you have something actually substantial to talk about, okay? Me and Max need to get ready for school and you just… I don’t know, try to make yourself look less rough, lack of sleep doesn’t look good on you…”

“Chloe!”, Max snaps, scowling at her friend. She reaches out a hand and squeezes Warren’s shoulder. “Warren… look after yourself, okay? We’ll talk soon…”

And with that, the door closes in front of him and Warren is left alone in the hallway, Chloe’s word’s whirling through his head: had he really been hallucinating last night? It had felt so real, but then again, that is what a crazy person would think…

When he gets back to his room, he finds Nathan shuffling through some developed photos on his desk and as the door opens, he turns around to face Warren. He looks fairly put together, already being dressed in a simple white t-shirt and jeans but judging from the dark circles under his eyes, he hasn’t gotten much sleep either.

“We need to talk.”, Nathan says, his face stoic. Warren groans inwardly: why couldn’t he just leave him alone right now? He goes to grab his backpack, but is blocked by Nathan, who stands in front of him, his arms out. Warren scowls at him.

“Nathan, I don’t have time for this, I need to get to class…”

“Warren, I think you need to take the day off, you look terrible. Did you even get any sleep?”

“I slept fine. Can I go now?”

“You’re lying. And it’s not just that anyway. You’ve been really out of sorts these last few days: you’re tired all the time, you’re having nosebleeds and you were seeing things last night. Maybe you need to go talk to the nurse…”

“Nathan.”, Warren growls, pushing him out of the way and grabbing his bag. “I’m fine. Just leave me alone for once, okay?”

Nathan blinks at that, looking hurt but he stands his ground.

“Look… I don’t want it to feel like I’m attacking you. But you don’t talk to me the way you used to. And that worries me. Because I have no idea what you’re going through right now and… I just want to help.”

Warren resists the urge to put the his head in his hands and scream- this was exactly what he was dreading: a confrontation about his recent strange behaviour. Why now? He didn’t have the energy for this…

“Nathan. I’m fine. Really. But… I need some space right now, okay? So quit breathing down my neck!”

“But Warren…”

But Warren is already hurrying out the room, out of the dorms and onto campus. He doesn’t look back to see if Nathan is following him, but when he finally stops to take a breath, he hears someone else’s raggedy breaths behind him. He scowls at Nathan.

“Didn’t I tell you to leave me alone?!”

Nathan scowls back at him, but he thinks he can also see his blue eyes start to well up a little bit.

“Warren… I’m sick of this.”, he hisses, rubbing his eyes with his sleeve as tears threatened to escape. “When you’re not ignoring me, you’re pretending everything’s okay and that you’re not still angry with me. And… and… that’s not what I want. I want you to say what’s really on your mind! It’s been driving me crazy!”

Warren flails his hands in exasperation:

“What do you want me to say?!”

Nathan groans.

“Yell at me! Tell me what I did was stupid! Say you hate me! Anything! Just stop with all this…” Suddenly Nathan goes very pale as he gapes at something he suddenly sees behind Warren. “What the fuck?!”

Warren whips his head round and at first, he has no idea what Nathan is staring at: the campus was still very much abandoned since classes didn’t actually start for another hour. Then he tries to follow Nathan’s eyeline, making him look up and that’s when he sees it…

A figure standing on the roof of Blackwell, dangerously close to the ledge.

Before he can even properly comprehend what he’s seeing, Nathan starts running inside the building, evidently rushing for the stairwell. As soon as he can move his legs again, Warren runs after him and soon both boys had reached the rooftop, panting profusely as they stare over at the girl.

Warren gasps, completely dumbfounded when he finally recognises her: the blonde pixie-cut, the cashmere sweater and the pearls around her neck.

Victoria Chase was standing on the roof of Blackwell, Victoria Chase! While he never knew her that well back home, he knew enough to know that she was a huge bitch to most people, whether they were her friends or not and that Max had always described her as a huge snob, always looking down her nose at her photography style.

Was she really suicidal in this universe? He’d never have predicted that in a million years…

Nathan is the first one to step forward, approaching Victoria cautiously, so as to not scare her too much. One small jump forward and there could be a broken body lying on the ground below…

“Victoria…?”, Nathan says as calmly as he can manage, his hands shaking. “Step away from there… please?”

At first Victoria doesn’t move but after a few seconds, she slowly turns to look at them, the usual snark gone from her expression, instead replaced with what looked like pure despair, her face flushed from previous crying and her green eyes tinged with red. She looks at the two of them, as if she’s unsurprised to see that two of her fellow classmates have decided to join her.

Suddenly her face breaks, and she starts properly sobbing, tears streaking down her face and sounds not unlike a frog emitting from her mouth. Seemingly not wanting to waste another second, Nathan rushes forward and grabs her, pulling her far away from the ledge as she collapses on the ground into his arms, her body shaking as she wails into his shoulder. Nathan holds her as he comforts her, but she doesn’t seem to be listening, as she just keeps yelling the same phrases over and over:

“It wasn’t my fault! I didn’t know she would… she would… I was just joking around. Why did I do that? Why…”

Warren stares at them, wondering if now would be a good time to go get a teacher or something when ,as suddenly as it started, the sobs stop and Victoria just stares at Nathan in shock, like she can’t remember why she’s in his arms. She puts a hand up to her face and her expression turns to disgust when she realises she’s been crying. She stands up, pushing Nathan off her in the process. She scowls at the two of them and screams in her more usual tone of voice:

“What the hell is going on here?! Why am I on the roof?! Did you two drag me up here?!”

Warren and Nathan can only gape in confusion as she stands there, her expression growing more and more furious with each passing second. What the hell was happening?

“Victoria…”, Nathan whispers softly, putting a hand on her arm, which she quickly shakes off. “We found you here, you looked like you were about to jump off the ledge. Don’t you remember?”

“Do I look stupid?!”, she snarls, stabbing him in the shoulder with her finger. “Why the hell would I want to jump? What do I look like? Some kind of junkie? Fuck off! I know you two are playing some kind of sick prank!”

Nathan stares at her, a shocked expression on his face.

“Victoria, you know I would never…”

But she’s already pushing past the two of them and running down the stairwell as fast as she can in her patent leather shoes. Nathan runs after her, but just before he’s about to go down the stairwell, he looks back at Warren, a sad expression on his face. Warren knows he wants him to say something, about Victoria, the fight they just had, why he’s been avoiding him…

But he can’t. Because he’s not his Warren and whatever he decides to say, he knows it’ll be the wrong thing. And that there’s no way he can explain what’s really wrong without hurting him further.

So, he just stays silent.

Nathan face twists in pain, but he quickly recovers and starts running down the stairwell, leaving Warren alone on the rooftop, with nothing but the blue sky for company.

As Warren looks over the entirety of Blackwell Campus and at the sun rising over the sea in the distance, he prays that the rest of today won’t be so harrowing.


	16. Cupcakes

_“What are you doing back here?”_

_Nathan freezes when he realises I’m standing in front of him, his back propped up against the wall behind the gymnasium and a book clenched in his hands. The only reason I’d wandered back here was because I was trying to avoid the seniors I’d confronted in the cafeteria a few weeks ago, who’d been trying to make my life hell since then. It was aright when I was with James or Amanda, but I knew things could get nasty when they got me on my own._

_Nathan murmured something about ‘wanting to catch up on his book’, his eyes not making any contact with mine. It was a funny thing with me and Nathan, during the school day our paths would hardly ever cross and even when they did, he had a tendency to always look embarrassed when he saw me, and he’d then quickly run away, as if to avoid conversation. The only place he seemed comfortable speaking to me was in our room and detention, where, without the rest of our classmates looking on he just seemed to act and talk like any other normal boy, save for a few eccentricities. We’d gotten into the habit most nights after detention of helping each other out with homework (he was greatly improving his mathematical abilities, I was still pretty abysmal at English Lit), and then ending the evening with a movie of our choice. I usually had a fun time and I’d actually got pretty interested in a lot of Nathan’s opinions about movies, books and even photography, something I’d always thought was pretty dull before now._

_I suppose that’s why I couldn’t help feeling a little hurt that Nathan acted so cold towards me whenever we were in public, like being associated with me was a source of deep shame to him. Maybe he was just shy…?_

_“So… uh… are you heading for lunch now? I think they’re serving nachos today.”, I say nervously, pointing my thumb in the general direction of the school cafeteria._

_Nathan shakes his head, still looking down at the concrete._

_“No… I can’t go back there. Not after everyone laughed at me that day.”_

_Ah._

_“Nathan, come on, that was weeks ago. People will have forgotten by now!”_

_Nathan just shakes his head again. I let out a heavy sigh._

_“Look Nathan, you can sit at my table with if you want…”_

_“Like any of your friends want me there!”_

_I blink at him, surprised by his bitter comment. I try to reassure him:_

_“I mean, sure, maybe you don’t always give off the best first impression but maybe if you didn’t act so…_ defensive _all the time and just acted like yourself…”_

_“I am acting like myself Warren! That’s my whole problem, okay?! So can you just… just…”_

_Nathan’s words are cut off as he suddenly takes in sharp intake of breath, like he’s trying to hold back some words. He gets up and tries to walk away but I stop him by putting a hand on his shoulder. He turns around to look at me and I notice he looks like he’s about to cry, but I decide not to point this out, in case he gets annoyed again._

_“Look Nathan, I’m sorry, it’s just…” I take a deep breath. “It’s just that I know how it feels to be scared of eating alone in the cafeteria, okay? It’s one of the many problems I had at my old school and… yeah, it sucked.”_

_Nathan stares at me, surprised at my confession. I feel myself flinch from the humiliation: why did I just admit that? I wanted to forget about that whole part of my life…_

_But at least I now had his full attention so I continued:_

_“So… yeah, I just want to help. I never see you talking to anyone besides me and even then, you pretend you don’t know me when other people are around. It’s like you don’t want to give people a chance!”_

_Nathan casts his eyes back to the ground, rubbing his arm. He mumbles something that I have to lean in to hear properly:_

_“Why give people a chance? They’re going to hate me anyway…”_

_“Why do you say that?”_

_Nathan shrugs._

_“I don’t know… just what I’ve noticed from experience I guess.”_

_I regard him thoughtfully, and I suddenly I can’t help seeing him as the kid I was last year, who came home from school one day in floods of tears because everyone at school thought he was a freak._

_By the time my parents got home from work, I was already all smiles again and chatting good-naturedly about my day with them._

_I hid behind a smile, Nathan hid behind a scowl and some foul words._

_I guess we all have our ways of dealing with things…_

_“Nathan… it’s a new school, new year. What applied at your old school doesn’t have to apply here. I mean… I find people can actually be kind of cool if you give them a chance.” I pause. “You know… like I did with you.”_

_Nathan’s ears go red when he hears that, and I quickly look away, blushing. I always forgot guys weren’t supposed to be affectionate towards each other. I swallow:_

_“Yeah… so anyway, do you want to go get some lunch?”_

_Nathan pauses, like he’s thinking about it but then he just shakes his head again._

_“Thanks… but no. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate it, but I don’t think I’m ready for that yet. Besides, I’m not hungry.”_

_I sigh._

_“Fine, but promise me you will try to actually talk to people, okay?” When I get no response, I rack my brain for some examples. “How about… Daniel? From your Art Class? I heard from Amanda that he needs a friend right now.”_

_“Daniel?”, he says, widening his eyes. “But he’s…”_

_Whatever he’s about to say, he stops himself when he sees my face. I raise my eyebrows at him._

_“He’s what Nathan? A loser? Nerd? Freak? What were you going to say?”_

_Nathan at least has the grace to look ashamed of himself, but I still find it hard to look at him. Who knew he could be such a hypocrite? I turn to leave._

_As I round the corner, I hear someone yell after me:_

_“Warren! Wait! I’m sorry, alright?!”_

_I turn around to look at him, he’s red in the face from just running a few metres which is quite worrying. He breathes heavily as he tries to get his breath back and I just sigh and reach inside my bag. I pull out two cupcakes._

_“It’s fine, forget about it… but eat these would you? You’d probably feel better if you actually had something in your stomach. I have too many of these anyway, Amanda made me a whole batch as a gift…”_

_Nathan takes the two cupcakes from my hands somewhat reluctantly, his face still flushed from running. He puts one of them in his satchel, whilst turning the other cake around in his hand, looking at it curiously._

_“Damn, you’ve got a girlfriend who bakes for you. Talk about lucky…”, Nathan says, sighing wistfully._

_I widen my eyes at him as I start spluttering:_

_“Oh I’m not… she’s not… we’re not… I don’t even…”_

_Nathan frowns at me._

_“Wait, Amanda’s not your girlfriend? But you guys go on movie dates together!”_

_“Yeah, but we’re just friends! A girl like Amanda would never go for someone like me! She’s gorgeous, funny, smart…”_

_“Yeah, totally sounds like you just want to be friends with her…”_

_I flush angrily._

_“Okay fine! Maybe I do have a crush on her but… I can’t ask her out! She’s way out of my league!”_

_Nathan rolls his eyes at me._

_“Come on Warren, you’ve told me she offers to do your homework and is always asking you to be her partner in class- what do you think that means? And these cupcakes…” Nathan frowns down at the icing. “Have hearts on them! How much more obvious does she has to be?”_

_“I… I…”_

_But I can’t get any words out, I can’t help thinking that he might be right… but surely not? What could Amanda see in someone like me?_

_“Hey, tell you what Warren…”, Nathan grins mischievously, all previous distress on his face gone. “If you ask Amanda out before the end of the day, I’ll talk to someone! Deal?”_

_Obnoxious, conniving little…_

_But as I look down at his outstretched hand, I just groan loudly to myself and I take his hand. We shake on it. Hey, if it’ll help him actually go through with it…_

_After grabbing a packaged sandwich from the machine, I go to find Amanda who’s sitting at a table, eating with James and the rest of the Science Club. She smiles as she sees me approach and waves me over._

_“Hey Warren! We thought you weren’t going to show? What took you so long?”_

_“Err… had to talk to a teacher.”, I stammer nervously. I take a seat next to her. Might as well do it… “Amanda… would you… uh… like to… go out some time?”_

_Amanda blinks at me._

_“You mean to the cinema again?”_

_“No! I mean yes! But I was thinking more… do you want to go out, go out? Like… do you want to date me?”_

_I blurt out that last bit so fast, I’m surprised Amanda understood me. At first, she looks shocked, but it doesn’t take long for a huge smile to grow across her face._

_“YES.”_

_Everyone at our table jumps and even Amanda looks quite embarrassed that she’d shouted. Her freckled face goes scarlet._

_“I mean… yeah, I would love that. See you tonight? After detention, I mean?”_

_I hesitate, thinking that I’ll be missing movie night with Nathan, but I remember that it was his idea in the first place for me to ask Amanda out, so I figured he’d understand. I smile back at her._

_“Tonight… would be great. Meet you in the parking lot?”_

_She nods excitedly and starts chatting to me happily about the latest go-green campaign the Science Club is involved with and about whether the club should consider changing its logo from a test tube to a supernova. I try to nod and make the odd approving comment when appropriate but inside my mind is racing- she actually said yes. To me. What kind of crazy world was I living in right now where Warren Graham managed to get a girl to go on a date with him?_

_Maybe Nathan was more perceptive than I thought…_

_After lunch me and James say goodbye to Amanda as we head off to English together. James can’t help blabbering about the fact I actually had the guts to ask out Amanda:_

_“I mean, don’t get me wrong, I knew she had a thing for you, but for a while you acted like you didn’t even notice! But I mean seriously! You’re dating Amanda! Talk about being a lucky guy…”_

_But suddenly I’m distracted from his babbling about how gorgeous Amanda is when suddenly I spot Nathan hanging around outside the Art classroom, which isn’t unusual this time of day. What is unusual is that he’s standing next to Daniel and he’s… looking at a book with him? I quickly recognise it as the sketchbook Daniel likes to carry around, and Nathan seems utterly engrossed with it, whilst Daniel looks on at him, slightly nervous about sharing his drawings._

_I thought I was being subtle about it, but James catches me staring and raises his eyebrows at me._

_“Why’s Prescott talking to Daniel? Is he bothering him?”_

_“No! No, no…”, I mutter, hurriedly dragging James away so that Nathan can’t hear. “I… I told Nathan that maybe he should get to know Daniel, you know, because he seemed pretty lonely.”_

_James stares at me, gobsmacked._

_“You thought Daniel seemed lonely… so you told Nathan Prescott to make friends with him?! Are you crazy? Isn’t this the guy that tried to beat you up a couple of weeks ago?”_

_I shrug._

_“Well… Nathan’s an okay guy once you get to know him a little. He just needs to be pushed in the right direction, you know?”_

_James just keeps shaking his head, baffled._

_“You know Warren, sometimes I think you’re a little too nice…”_

 

“Warren? Are you okay?”

Warren blinks at Daniel, slightly dazed. Daniel had been in the middle of apologising about accidentally snitching to Mr Jefferson about Warren and Logan’s altercation, when suddenly, another memory invaded his mind. Thankfully, it was nowhere near as intense as the last one, but it still proved to be an annoying occurrence, especially in the middle of talking to someone.

He smiled weakly at Daniel.

“Honestly, it’s fine Daniel, it sounds like Mr Jefferson gave you a hard time about it.”

Daniel nods, looking a little sad.

“Yes- it was really quite scary how angry he got, I’d never seen him get that mad. But who knows? Perhaps he had something on his mind…”

“Yeah maybe…”, Warren murmurs, not entirely interested in Mr Jefferson’s mental state. “Anyway, I’m not getting punished or anything, so we can put this all behind us now. I’ve got to admit, I’m surprised they let me off the hook, considering Logan must’ve had the entire football team backing him up.”

To his surprise, Daniel shakes his head.

“Only about half the football team actually- the other half spoke up for you.”

“Wait, really?!”, Warren says, surprised. “Why would they…?”

“Daniel! I was looking for you! It’s your turn to be interviewed by the officer now…”

Both boys jump as they turn to see Mr Jefferson standing in front of them, pointing over at his classroom door. He looks between the two of them and frowns.

“Are you guys okay?”

They both nod nervously. Daniel mouths ‘bye’ and hurriedly heads into Mr Jefferson’s classroom. Warren turns to leave when suddenly Mr Jefferson calls for him to come back. He walks back reluctantly, worried he might bring up the whole fight incident again but it goes in an entirely different direction:

“Warren, right?”, Mr Jefferson asks, looking down at him, his stylish glasses slightly lopsided. “Sorry to bother you, but I saw you running after Max Caufield the other day- are you a friend of hers?”

“Uhh… kind of?”, Warren murmurs, feeling uncomfortable with this line of questioning.

Mr Jefferson smiles at him, seemingly trying to put him at ease.

“Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble. It’s just that as I’m sure you’re aware, Max went through a traumatic event recently, involving poor Kate. Max has already made a statement to the police, but I got the feeling the other day while I was trying to talk to her, that she hasn’t told the police the whole story, that she might be holding something back. I’m sure she isn’t doing it to be malicious, that maybe she’s just trying to protect Kate, but it is vital that she gives the police as much information as she can, to help them track down Kate’s attacker. I don’t suppose you know if she’s been hiding anything?”

Warren shakes his head, doing his best not to break eye contact with Mr Jefferson, so that he wouldn’t think he was lying. After all, what was he supposed to say? That Max managed to find Kate using her supernatural powers?

Mr Jefferson looks disappointed with Warren’s answer, but his smile doesn’t waver as he points towards the door behind him, where Daniel had disappeared to.

“Well, if you do hear any information that might help out the police, feel free to talk to them. They’ll be around school for the next couple of days, interviewing Kate’s classmates, so they’ll be close at hand. Take care Warren.”

And with that Mr Jefferson walks away, leaving Warren to stand alone, feeling a little shaky. He wasn’t quite sure why, Mr Jefferson’s intentions seemed understandable enough, but there just seemed to be something… off?

Warren wanted to talk to Max as soon as possible, but he wasn’t sure if she’d be in her dorm room yet, and he knew that her corridor would be swarming with other girls this time of day. A boy wandering into another girl’s room would definitely cause some tongues to wag.

He took out his phone and frowned down at it. He’d tried dozens of combinations as a passcode but nothing seemed to work. What on earth would his other-self choose…?

As he racked his mind for ideas, his mind wandered back to yesterday. Could it possibly be…?

He pressed down on the numbers 1-9-8-5. He looks down at his phone, amazed when finally his phone unlocked and once again, his apps came up for his use. He hurriedly opened up the messenger app and started rapidly writing a message for Max:

_‘Found Victoria Chase on the roof this morning, looked like she was about to jump. Talk soon?’_

He watches his screen, desperately waiting for the message to turn to ‘read’, but after a few minutes he gives up looking and starts heading back to his dorm room. On the way, he scrolls through the messages on his phone, curious about who other-Warren was talking to before he disappeared.

He hesitates before deciding not to open Nathan’s messages- he didn’t want to have to read anything too personal, it might make things more awkward than they already were. Instead he reads messages from his mum and dad, which seemed to be the usual mundane chatter about school and work, a few scant messages from his younger sister, a message from James asking if he wanted to meet up this summer (evidently he’d left Blackwell at some point), some messages from Brooke about Science Club, which seemed to get only increasingly more frustrated and… wait, who the hell was Drew North? He didn’t know anyone called that back home…

There aren’t a lot of messages from him, just the odd one saying he was going to be back in town again sometime and asking if he and others wanted to meet up. As he scrolls back in time however, he pauses when he comes across a very curious message:

_‘Hey, I heard from Mikey that Nathan’s in hospital. Is everything okay??’_

Warren stares down at the message: it was dated about six months ago- Nathan had been in hospital? Why? Sure, he had some weird nightmares sometimes, but he seemed pretty healthy besides that. Unless… maybe it was something to do with that scar on his arm? Did he get hurt or something?

He scrolls forward a little bit to read the replies:

_‘Hey Drew, thanks for asking. Nathan’s okay now, he just had a pretty bad accident. The doctors say that they’re going to let him out in maybe a few weeks.’_

_‘A few weeks?? Damn, I’d hate to be in hospital that long. Tell him to get better soon from me.’_

Warren continued to scroll through but at no point was it mentioned what Nathan’s ‘accident’ actually was and it was kind of freaking him out: he was sure Nathan had never mentioned being in hospital for several weeks while he’d been here and how was he supposed to react if he did bring it up?

As he entered his room, he’s extremely pleased that Nathan is nowhere to be seen, especially after their little fight this morning and the messages he’d just read. He doubted he’d even be able to look him in the eye at this point…

Suddenly his phone buzzed. He quickly opens his phone up to see that Max has finally messaged him back:

‘ _??? What the hell?! Where are you right now?!’_

Warren quickly replied:

_‘My dorm room, why?’_

_‘We need to talk. Now. Which room are you?’_

_‘Room 5.’_

_‘See you in a sec, okay?’_

Five minutes later, during which Warren had tried to make the room a little more presentable, there was a knock at the door. Warren opened it to find Max standing there, looking a little dishevelled from a long day at school. He lets her in and asks her if she’d like to sit down on the desk chair, since it was the only bit of seating in the room besides the beds. She takes the seat gratefully and sits down to face him, her hands clasped and shoulders slightly hunched.

“Well…”, she murmurs, looking up at him. “Want to tell me what happened with Victoria?”

And so he tells her the whole story about how he and Nathan had spotted Victoria on the roof this morning, and her strange behaviour when they did confront her up there. Max listens quietly, taking all of it in. When he finishes, she scrunches up her face, like she’s confused.

“Wait, are you sure she meant to jump? Did she say anything about actually wanting to kill herself?”

Warren thinks back.

“I… guess not.”, he says slowly, frowning. “I mean… I just assumed from the way she was crying and acting like she was feeling really guilty about something. What’s Victoria like in this universe usually? Does she seem… suicidal at all?”

Max snorts but then immediately looks apologetic.

“Sorry! It’s just that… look, the Victoria I know is one of the most shallowest girls in existence. She is honestly the last person I’d ever expect to be suicidal. Besides, her sudden amnesia must mean that there’s a less conventional explanation to all this. It’s got to have something to do with you.”

“With me?!”, Warren blanches. “But I haven’t done anything! I didn’t even ask to be brought over here!”

“I’m not accusing you!”, Max backtracks hastily. “I’m just saying, it’s no coincidence all this weird shit started happening not long after you arrived. Did anything else happen today besides Victoria?”

“Well…”, Warren says hesitating, not sure if it’s worth sharing. “I experienced another memory today.”

“Really?” Max brightens. “What about?”

“Nothing really…”

When he sees Max’s shoulders deflate with disappointment he tries to explain.

“It’s just that… look, most of these memories aren’t about anything too important. But… they still upset me. Because they remind me of my younger self.”

When Max looks at him in a questioning manner, he continues.

“They upset me because… they remind me of a time when I was… happier. Less sceptical I guess. In my own universe, I didn’t start at Blackwell until I was sixteen, and life at my old school… let’s just say, it wasn’t exactly pleasant. By the time I got to Blackwell, I found it hard to believe I’d ever make a real friend. And I didn’t really, I had people I hanged around with, but no one I would call a real friend.” He pauses. “Until I met you.”

Max widens her eyes at him and Warren smiles sadly.

“Yeah, sorry, pathetic I know. I think I liked you a lot more than you liked me anyway, kind of embarrassing now I think about it…”

“Warren.”, Max whispers, putting a hand on his arm to stop his words.  “It’s not pathetic alright? I kind of get how you feel… I’ve been at Blackwell for months now, and my only real friend is Chloe. Mind you, I’ve been such a bad friend, I’m surprised she hasn’t abandoned me…”

“What do you mean? I’m sure that’s not true…”

“No Warren, it’s true…”, she sighs, her eyes brimming with tears. “I had to move away with my parents from Arcadia and I didn’t have the guts to tell her until the day before. Then her dad died and I… I tried to stay in contact at first but everything I said seemed to be the wrong thing, I just seemed to keep hurting her so… I started calling and messaging less and less. Because I didn’t know what to say. Because I’m selfish and an idiot. I thought she’d hate me when she met me again, when I moved back here I mean. But… she seemed happy to see me. Like, maybe it was because she just needed a friend after the whole Rachel Amber situation, but she really was happy to have me back. And… I hate that. Because I don’t deserve it at all.”

The tears fell thick and fast down Max’s face and before Warren knew what he was doing, he was hugging her. He tried to give her some space between them so that she could move away if she wanted to, but she held onto him, like she just needed someone to hang onto, so she didn’t completely lose it…

Suddenly the door opens and the two of them spring apart. Nathan stands in the doorway, looking confused as to why Max was in their room right now. Warren can’t help noticing the small suitcase by Nathan’s feet. Was he going somewhere?

“Hey Max.”, Nathan says softly, looking concerned. “Are you alright?”

Max nods, trying to smile but it turns into more of a grimace. Nathan looks at Warren for an explanation but he only shrugs, so he turns back to Max.

“I… was just interviewed by the police about Kate. I’m really sorry about what you went through… but I’m glad you found her in time.”

Max just nods again, tears still streaming down her face. She mouths ‘bye’ to Warren and leaves the room quickly, leaving Nathan and Warren alone to stare at each other.

Nathan is the first one to break the silence, his eyes cast downward:

“I… just came in here because I forgot my wallet. I’m going to be staying at Marie’s for a few days. I… think we need to be away from each other for a while. To think about what we need to do.”

When Warren doesn’t answer, Nathan looks up a him and Warren sees how tired he looks, his eyes heavy with deep bags under his eyes. Nathan’s eyes go glossy as he continues to stare at him. He rubs his arms across his eyes as tears threaten to break and he takes a deep breath before he continues speaking:

“Just… please tell me, next time we meet, you’ll be ready to talk. Properly. About what happened. Promise?”

Warren nods, not even hesitating about it. Nathan was really upset right now, and if it gave him some comfort that Warren would actually start being honest with him in a few days time… well who was he to deny him that?

To his surprise, Nathan puts out his hand.

“Deal?”, he says, his head cocked to one side.

After a few seconds, Warren walks forward and take his hand. He shakes it.

“Deal.”

Nathan brings his head forward and kisses Warren softly on the lips and Warren tries to get inside other-Warren’s minds, tries to act the way other-Warren would…

Nathan is the first one to break away, grabbing his suitcase and leaving the room without a word.

Warren is left alone in the middle of the room, wondering if he was doing everything wrong right now, if there was an obvious way out of all this he couldn’t see…

Warren puts headphones in and puts his music on loud, letting the music drift him away to a different time, a different place, where his biggest worry was if he’d do alright on his Calculus exam…

Drift away, back to his own universe, where everything was so much less complicated.


	17. Tool Box

It was one o’clock in the morning now and still Warren can’t sleep. Every time he thinks he’s about to finally drop off into slumber town, suddenly a small rustling sound or slight movement would cause him to sit bolt upright again, staring at that one corner in the room.

He knows that it’s just his head messing with him, that it’s unlikely the girl will return tonight but still… he couldn’t get her out of his mind. Her bloody attire and blank expression were etched into his mind and no matter how hard he tried to bring his mind back to a happier place, all he could see was her. Finally, he gives up, grabbing a book by his bedside. May as well distract himself…

Turning on his reading lamp, he glances over towards the wall by Nathan’s bed, the photos glossy in the lamplight. It was odd, seeing the bed empty tonight, after getting somewhat used to having a roommate these past few days. While it was kind of nice, not having to worry about waking Nathan up with his twisting and turning, he couldn’t help thinking that it was strange how suddenly Nathan had left. Sure, thing’s hadn’t been great the last few days, but was it really this morning that had broken the camel’s back? Had things been bad for a while even before he entered this universe?

He throws the sheets off his bed, suddenly too hot. He walks over towards Nathan’s wall, curious to see if there were any pictures of other-Warren up there. After all, he was Nathan’s boyfriend, it would be interesting to see if it showed anything about how they were as a couple at the very least…

After quickly scanning through what looked like hundreds of photos, Warren concluded that Nathan’s style of photography didn’t really concern itself with basic selfies and group shots, instead opting for pictures of beaches, old houses, grave stones…

Suddenly one of the grave yard photos grabbed his attention: in it, was pictured a worn, moss-covered statue that might’ve once resembled an angel. He couldn’t help being reminded of a Doctor Who episode he watched a while back, one of the more spookier episodes. In front of the statue stood a figure wearing a large black raincoat, their back turned to camera. Despite the fact Warren can’t see the face, he recognises his hairstyle from when he was fourteen. His mom was right, he had needed a haircut.

He scans through the rest of the photos, trying to spot himself: was that him on the beach there? That was definitely him climbing that tree… wait, was he lying down in a graveyard in that one?! He was an even bigger weirdo than Nathan…

Another picture catches his eye: it’s not of anyone he recognises, but he remembers the picture from the first time he’d entered this room. It was the picture of the old man on the bench feeding the dog waffles- it was kind of charming, and a much more different mood compared to the rest of the wall, which seemed to be going for a more mysterious, gothic feel.

As he continues to stare at the picture, slowly the room vanishes and soon he finds himself standing in an entirely different room…

_“That… actually looks pretty good.”_

_Nathan just stares at our officially finished project, equally surprised as me that we’re finished and that our result looks more than acceptable. We were so worried for a while that it wouldn’t be finished in time and here it was now, our solar display finished with two days to spare._

_I smile at Nathan who gives me a half-hearted one in return and we start clearing up the glues, paints and stationary. I accidentally cut myself on one of Nathan’s craft knives and he quickly gets some paper towels for me, even though it’s only bleeding a little. It’s about this time Miss Grant walks in on us. She looks at me in concern when she sees the blood on my hand but I reassure her everything is fine. Nathan tells her that we’re finally finished with our project and as she looks over it to check it, a huge grin grows across her face. She beams over at us._

_“Well done boys! I mean, I knew you two could do a good job if you put your mind to it, but you both ended up surpassing my expectations! This looks wonderful, and you should both be very proud of yourselves!”_

_I grin back at her._

_“Thanks Miss! Does that mean… we won’t have detention anymore?”_

_Miss Grant laughs._

_“Consider yourselves redeemed you two! You may get back to breaking the law, stamp collecting or whatever you kids do outside of school these days!”_

_My smile wavers a little bit and I’m not quite sure why- it’s not like I didn’t think detention was a pain in the ass most of time. But… I’d actually enjoyed the conversations I’d had with Nathan in this room, getting to know him better and even though I knew we still had outside of classes to hang out… what if he didn’t see the point in hanging out with me if we weren’t working together? What if he just started ignoring me again? It was a funny thing with Nathan, just when I felt like he was opening up to me, he’d go back to being his usual spiky self- the amount of times that happened these last few weeks, it kind of felt like I was getting whiplash._

_So yeah, maybe that was why I wasn’t entirely happy about detention ending and why I felt so nervous when I asked him if he wanted to go out and get something from the fast food truck to celebrate. I was actually very pleased when he says yes, because I know Nathan doesn’t really enjoy food that much, so he must genuinely want to hang out with me right now._

_We sit out opposite the Two Whales Diner, burritos in hand, looking out to sea. The sun is already setting and the only sounds right now are the waves splashing against the cliff faces and the occasional car passing by. Me and Nathan make small talk about our classes and which teachers are the worst. I ask him if his dad was coming to parent-student day and he shrugs non-committedly._

_Suddenly, Nathan perks up and stares at something across the road. I try to see what he’s looking at, but all I can see is an old man wearing a large overall coat looking down at small stray terrier dog. Not that odd really._

_But then the man reaches down inside his bag and pulls out a bag of cheap waffles and he slowly starts feeding the little dog, making him sit for each bite. The small dog starts wagging his tail enthusiastically, his tongue sticking out in a goofy manner. I hear something that sounds like a shutter go off next to me and I turn to see Nathan next to me, a camera held up towards his face. I frown at him: the camera looks brand new, a little smaller than the last one I broke but still just as expensive. Nathan’s face colours with embarrassment when he spots me looking and he quickly stuffs the camera back into his bag, avoiding my eyes. I cough, feeling a little awkward._

_“What was that all about?”_

_Nathan answers quietly, his eyes still looking down at the ground:_

_“I… well, that old man and the dog meet each other here now and again and the old man always had waffles on him for the dog. I just thought… it might make a good picture.”_

_“Right…”, I murmur, not entirely getting it since I’m in no way a photographer. I point down at his camera. “Is that new? It looks pretty cool.”_

_“Yeah, my mom bailed me out…”, Nathan mutters, looking down at the camera. “She says I shouldn’t tell dad about it though, in case he gets mad again.”_

_I widen my eyes at him, a little bit shook._

_“Is… your mom afraid of your dad or something?”_

_Nathan shrugs._

_“Not really. I think it’s just that she can’t be bothered with arguing. She hasn’t got a lot of energy to do most stuff.”_

_Nathan’s face goes red when he realises he’s getting too honest again and goes back to staring down at his half-eaten burrito. I don’t really want to drop the subject though, it sounds like he needs someone to talk to…_

_“Are you… afraid of you dad?”_

_Nathan hesitates before answering:_

_“No.”_

_Nathan sighs when I just keep looking at him, waiting for him to continue._

_“I mean… I’ve given him a lot of reason to be angry at me in the past. I’m a screw-up.”_

_“Why? Because you got expelled from your last school?”_

_Nathan stares at me and that’s when I remember I hadn’t heard about it from him._

_“Sorry. It’s just that Amanda mentioned it and…”_

_“Whatever.”, Nathan mutters sourly, finally giving up on his burrito and throwing it in a nearby trash can._

_I fumble nervously, worried I’ve really botched up now. Why couldn’t I learn to just keep my big, fat, stupid mouth shut…?_

_But then to my surprise Nathan turns back to me, looking conflicted. When he does finally speak again, he says calmly, in a clear tone:_

_“It wasn’t the first time I’d been expelled. Not by a long way.”_

_I stare at him before stammering:_

_“Uhh… right. So… how many times have you been…?”_

_“Seven.”_

_“Seven?!”_

_“Yeah. Seven.”_

_“Wow. Well, that’s…”, I whistle to myself. “Damn, one for each day of the week!”_

_Nathan tries to look annoyed by my stupid attempt at humour, but I think I almost see him smirk a little bit._

_“So… yeah. That’s why my dad hates me. Because I’m a fuck-up.”_

_“I’m sure he doesn’t think that…”_

_“Yes, he does. And can you really blame him?”_

_I chew on my lip, not sure how I can save this conversation now. I try to switch tactics:_

_“I hope you don’t mind me asking but… what did you get expelled for?”_

_“Fighting.”_

_“Fighting?”_

_“Fighting… and breaking things. I get angry, a lot. I’m sure you’ve noticed.”_

_“True.”, I murmur, putting a hand up to my newly-healed eye. “So if you know that always leads to you getting expelled… why do you keep doing it.”_

_Nathan shrugs, looking out to sea._

_“I don’t know… when I’m mad, I don’t… I don’t think. I just want to keep hitting things, people until I don’t feel angry anymore. I don’t know if I’ve always been like that… I remember being kind of liking school when I was younger.” He pauses. “But then things… changed. I think it was when I was about seven, I guess the kids started realising I was a freak, and some kids in my class realised it was funny to make me mad. So they kept… pushing me. Pushing me around, writing in my books, calling me names, until one day I got… too mad. This one guy called Benny, one day him and his friends just kept following me around the playground, yelling stuff at me, trying to make me lose it. But… when I did finally crack, I didn’t stop punching. I just kept hitting Benny until… he stopped moving.” I gape at Nathan, while he rubs his eyes. “Everyone thought I killed him. I thought I killed him. But it turned out he was fine, he was just knocked out and had some bruising. But it was still pretty scary, I was almost kind of grateful when they expelled me. I couldn’t face going back to that school, not after all that.”_

_I swallow, not realising how dry my throat had gotten. Christ, that sounded intense… I mean, I’d suspected Nathan had issues but I’d had no idea how bad it actually was._

_“How… how did you get expelled the other times?”_

_Nathan looks down at his hands._

_“Nothing as bad as Benny. But similar. I’d try for the first few months at every school to be… normal. But that façade never lasted long, and I just seemed to manage make everyone hate me anyway. Some schools were stricter than others, you could get expelled for just stealing the odd book from another student. But others… I think the boarding schools were the worst. The boys there could get away with a lot after school hours. At my last one they’d hold my head under the water in the baths until I’d almost pass out. I couldn’t let anyone know, otherwise the school would let my dad know and he’d hate me for being weak, for letting the other boys do that to me, for ruining the Prescott name. So I let that go on for a while… until I finally lost it again.”_

_“What happened?”_

_Nathan closes his eyes, like thinking back was painful for him._

_“It was my roommate who hurt me the most. One night, after I thought he was actually going to drown me, I went back to our room and took out a lighter. And I set his bed on fire.” He looks at my shocked expression. “No-one got hurt but my dad had to pay for a fuck-ton of damage. I think that might’ve ben the most angry I’d ever seen him.”_

_He looks out back to sea, not even bothering to hide the fact he was crying now. I guess he didn’t figure it mattered anymore._

_“Did you… ever tell your dad about the bullying at your last school?”_

_Nathan shakes his head, looking at me like I’d just asked a very stupid question._

_“Why would I? He’d just give me the same advice: don’t show weakness and let them know you’re a proud member of the Prescott family.”_

_I sigh._

_“Yeah, that’s pretty shitty advice.”_

_“Yeah, I guess you kind of helped me realise that Warren- boasting about being a Prescott just seems to make everyone think I’m an idiot.”_

_I raise my eyebrows at him._

_“It took you that long to realise?”_

_He just shrugs again._

_“I don’t usually talk to a lot of people my own age.”_

_I hesitate before asking him my next question:_

_“So… what changed?”_

_Nathan looks confused by my question, so I elaborate._

_“Like… I mean… you seem… kind of alright, you know? After you got all of that shit out of your system I mean.”_

_“I haven’t changed Warren, I’m just… trying to stop being a fuck-up, okay? The only reason my dad let me into this school was so he could at least keep a closer eye on me. So… I decided this year I’d just keep to myself, and not get to know anyone in case someone got me angry again. I tried to do the Vortex Club a few favours so they’d let me sit at their table, that maybe they’d let me be a member in a future. My dad used to be head of the Vortex Club when he was at school so I just thought… that maybe I could finally tell him something he’d be proud of.” Nathan stops to take a breath, a sad look on his face. “But instead… I just keep screwing up. I’m crap at Maths and Business Studies, the entire Vortex Club thinks I’m a joke and… I took out my anger on you. So yeah, I fucked up again.”_

_The tears started falling thick and fast. I reach out a hand to comfort him, but when he flinches I put it back. I try put things into perspective:_

_“But Nathan, you haven’t fucked up, not really. You haven’t been expelled, and I can see you’re trying to be a better person…”_

_“Warren did you just listen to a word I just said?!”, Nathan suddenly shouts angrily, making me jump. “I just told you! I hurt people, I don’t know to not be angry all the time and I just keep doing the same fucked-up shit over and over again! I’m a bad person alright?! And the only reason I’m trying to be less of a dick is because… because…”_

_As his words dissolve off into sobs, I put a hand on his back and tell him to breathe in and out slowly. He does this, and soon he somewhat calms down, at least enough so that he can continue to tearfully talk:_

_“The only reason is because the same day you yelled at me about why everyone hates me, I got an email from my sister and… I don’t know. She wrote about how I need to stop doing everything dad says and it occurred to me… that maybe I should try apologising for once in my life. My dad always taught me it was a sign of weakness but… I don’t know. I get so tired sometimes, being angry at so many people at once. I didn’t expect you to accept my apology, but I just figured if I stopped being angry at you at the very least then maybe… it would let off some pressure, I don’t know. But I knew I couldn’t keep going on like this, or I’d take things too far again, like I always seem to. Besides… I kept thinking about what you said, about how crap I treat you and everyone around me so I just kept thinking… maybe I should at least put in an effort to not act like… well, me. So yeah, I apologised to you.” He pauses, giving me a strange look. “And you accepted my apology. I don’t know why you did, but you did. But you didn’t stop there, you kept talking to me like I was… a normal kid. You kept asking to hang out with me, to have movie nights together and… I didn’t know how to respond that.”_

_Nathan gets up from our bench and starts walking away from the bench we’re sitting at. I quickly follow him, slightly alarmed._

_“Nathan, where are you…?”_

_“Warren… please stop pretending you don’t hate me.”_

_I stare at him, bewildered._

_“But I don’t hate you!”_

_“Well you should! I’m a freak okay! The smallest things make me want to lose it and I have no clue how to be a good person! And don’t say I am one, okay?! A good person doesn’t have to be taught how to be one! So just leave me alone!”_

_“Nathan…”, I sigh, grabbing him by the shoulder. He half-heartedly struggles against my grip but he stays where he is. “Look, maybe you do have trouble not being a dick, okay? But it’s not because you’re a bad person… it sounds like you’ve had a hard time at some of your schools in the past and you don’t know how to let those feelings out in a healthy manner, alright? Believe me, I get that…”_

_“What are you taking about Graham?!”, Nathan snarls, finally wriggling out of my grasp. “You manage to get everyone to like you! You have all those friends, a girlfriend, parents who like you …”_

_“Yeah, well it wasn’t like that at my old school, okay?!”, I suddenly snap, my voice breaking at the end of my sentence. Fuck, what the hell was I doing…?_

_It’s now Nathan’s turn to stare at me. I sigh. Well, there’s no turning back now… I take a deep breath:_

_“One of the reasons I came to Blackwell was because things weren’t great at my old school. I got picked on, okay? Everyone thought I was weird because… well, I’m weird. But for whatever reason people don’t seem to care about that here.” I laugh bitterly. “I guess Blackwell is just more accepting of massive nerds like me.”_

_Nathan regards me quietly, biting down on his lip nervously. It takes a few seconds before he says anything again:_

_“You… say you got picked on. In what way?”_

_I turn away from him- I know it’s not fair since he opened up to me about himself but I just… don’t know if I can bear talking about it without being embarrassed. Or turning into a blubbering mess._

_Nathan looks away from me, murmuring: “Yeah, it’s fine, you don’t have to talk about it…”_

_I look at him, looking so small right now in his slightly baggy clothes. Could I really tell Nathan about this?_

_But then again, who else could I tell?_

_I gesture for him to sit down on the wall, and I begin, trying to keep my tone neutral:_

_“I’ve never been good at speaking to people my own age. I guess because both my parents are science teachers, I already knew how to read, write and do basic mathematics before I even started preschool, so I was really far ahead academically compared to everyone else which… made me stand out. And not in a good way.” I fumble at bits of loose granite on the wall, feeling a bit uncomfortable talking about my childhood to what was still mostly a stranger. “Then… I made the mistake of telling people all the stuff I was interested in. Most of it was stuff most young boys are into, like superheroes and Star Wars and stuff.” I frown to himself as the granite crumbles onto my shirt sleeve. “But then I made the mistake of telling people how I enjoyed playing dolls with my little sister and watching magical girl anime and… well yeah, a stupid decision, but I was young at the time. Plus, I was never taught liking girly stuff was bad or anything. So yeah, pretty much throughout preschool and elementary school, I was shunned by the boys and called things like fairy princess. What can I say? Little kids don’t let you forget your mistakes…”_

_I’ve left a large hole in the wall so I stop fumbling with it. I take another deep breath and continue:_

_“Middle school was when it started to get really bad. This particular group of guys started to do a lot of nasty stuff, I guess because they thought they could get away with it with me. I didn’t have any friends, I never talked to people, and I’d just spend all my time alone at school. So they’d shove me into lockers, steal my sports kit, and twist my arm behind my back when they knew the teachers weren’t looking.” I flexed out his hand, as a particularly painful memory of a Chinese burn came back to me. “I never told my parents what was going on because… well, it sounds stupid now, but it felt like it was my fault, because of the way I acted like such a loser and… I don’t know, I love my parents and I knew they were already worried about work and my little sister because her health has never been great and…”_

_I stopped myself as I felt tears threaten to brim, pretending to rub the gravel off my sleeve when I was really giving myself a moment to calm down. I don’t even want to look at Nathan as I continue, worried he’ll just look embarrassed for me or even worse, pity me._

_“Yeah so anyway… I basically became a hermit at school but put on a happy face for my parents at home. I thought I could manage that but… one day I made the mistake of standing up for a girl in my class when she was getting bothered by the same group of guys who were bullying me, and… I don’t know what happened exactly, it was all a blur, but I ended up socking one of the boys in the nose. In front of the entire class. His nose started bleeding, but he was more mad that he got humiliated in front of the entire class so… after gym that day, him and his friends waited for me in the changing rooms and they…” I closed his eyes, it was the only way I could do to stop myself from crying. “They… well… long story short, I got beat up. Badly. And… I couldn’t hide it from my parents this time.” I kick at the wall. Christ, why was I doing this?! I doubted Nathan even cared that much about all this, so why bring it up. “My parents freaked, contacted the school about it, tried to get those responsible suspended. But it didn’t make anything better, I still had no friends at school and I was… afraid to go back in. Just thinking about school made me feel sick. That’s when Dad encouraged me to go for the whole Blackwell application thing. I mean, we’d talked about it before then but he meant it for real this time. And… yeah. It wasn’t just the Chemistry programme that got me thinking about this place, I it was because I wanted a new start, where no one knew who I was. That’s what Blackwell meant to me.”_

_It takes me a while before I’m finally able to look at Nathan again, I’m so embarrassed by my outburst. To my surprise, he’s not even looking at me, he has a thoughtful look on his face as he looks out across the road at the diner. After a minute of silence, he turns back to me, a peculiar expression on his face._

_“So… the people at your old school didn’t like you? That surprises me. You’ve always seemed so sure of yourself, so happy, like all this friendship stuff seems to just come naturally to you. How did you manage it?”_

_I try to think of a good answer._

_“I guess… people here just seem generally nicer, at least in my experience. Like I said, give people a chance, you might be surprised. I saw you talking to Daniel the other day, how’s that going?”_

_He looks surprised that I’d bring that up right now, but he obliges me with a floundering answer:_

_“Daniel? I mean we don’t talk talk, he’s not that kind of guy, but… I don’t know, I guess he is pretty nice. And his artwork is amazing, you should come look at it and…”_

_Nathan’s eyes swivel towards me, and his next sentence is so bizarre I have no idea how to respond:_

_“You’re pretty brave you know.”_

_All I could blink at him, astounded. What the hell was that meant to mean? I think Nathan realises how weird he just sounded because he’s blushing as he tries to explain himself:_

_“I just mean… that it was brave of you to stand up for that girl, to go up against your bullies. Without taking it too far like me I mean. And also, when you stood up for that girl the other day in the cafeteria, that was… like, I know I was mad at you at the time but it was… kind of cool.”_

_It’s also my turn to blush as I stammer: “Oh…uh… you think so.”_

_Nathan nods at me._

_“Yeah. I mean I could never…” Nathan sighs wistfully to himself. “I would never have the guts to do that.”_

_My phone buzzing suddenly interrupts the moment, and we both look at each other bashfully as we realise at the same time what we must look like right now, our eyes red from crying and sitting only a few inches apart. It was like a bloody bonding session or something…_

_Checking my messages, I see it’s from Amanda and I have a stark realisation that I’m meant to be meeting up with her in less than half an hour. I explain as much to Nathan who nods in understanding._

_“I still don’t understand how you didn’t realise she fancied you…”_

_“Nathan, I have a hard time understanding why any girl would fancy me. But uh…” I smile at him. “Thanks for bringing it to my attention.”_

_Nathan smiles back at me, a smile more genuine than any other he’s given me all day. I rub the back of my head, feeling a bit awkward about what I was about to do but I do it anyway:_

_“Nathan, I want to make another deal.”_

_“A deal?”, Nathan asks, curious about where I’m going with this._

_“Yeah, well… we never made it official so I’d like to now make a deal that we’re friends. So… deal?”_

_Nathan stares down at my outstretched hand then back at me again._

_“Friends? Is that what… we are?”_

_I shrug._

_“Nah, I like to hang out for hours at a time with just anyone… of course we’re friends! So… shake on it? Please? My arm’s getting tired…”_

_It’s only a few seconds hesitation before Nathan reaches out his own hand to shake mine, both our grips firm._

_As we unclasp our hands, Nathan’s smile is so wide I have no choice but to grin back at him. We stay like that for a while before I start coughing when I realise how awkward this all is. I stare out to sea again and comment how it’s a nice sunset tonight. Nathan looks out to sea with me and agrees._

_He takes his camera out again and takes a photo…_

As Warren is brought back to reality, he automatically reaches for his temple.

Funny how his head didn’t hurt that much this time…

He needed to get to bed. Now. Reliving these memories was not going to help his situation at all, and what if he saw something from his other-Warren’s past he really didn’t want to see? It was too risky.

Yet for some reason the memory had made him feel a little more at ease, like being someone else for a while had helped him forget about his own problems, even for just a little bit. It had been a nice feeling in the memory, finally finding someone to talk to about his issues at his old school- crap, he’d forgotten how much of a big deal it’d been to him at the time, it had happened so long ago. School had been a lonely time for him and even now, he wasn’t exactly top of the social ladder- not that he cared about that kind of thing anymore. As long as he had one or two true friends, he was satisfied.

Backing away from the photo wall, Warren thinks about how truly bizarre an idea it still is to him that him and Nathan ever became anything more than enemies, despite living other-Warren’s life for several days now. What the hell had happened there? Was the relationship even worth saving? Clearly other-Warren had been upset with Nathan for a reason- maybe he could break off the relationship without any guilt on his part?

If he could just find out what had happened…

Would he keep a diary? Unlikely, but it was maybe still worth looking, there had to be something around here that could tell him something…

Where would he hide something he didn’t want anyone to see?

He immediately went for underneath Nathan’s bed, pushing several piles of books during the process. Why did this guy have so many books?! He couldn’t be planning to read them all, it wasn’t like he had no hobbies…

Suddenly he felt something underneath the bed, like a box of some sort. He pulled it out and found what looked like a toolbox, not unlike something his grandfather used to own. Why would he have something like that underneath his bed?

Curiosity gets the better of him and so he flicks the box open, revealing what looked like… more photos? Except they were different from the ones pinned on the wall, they were all in colour and there was even a newspaper clipping right here…

Wait, what the hell was he doing? The lack of sleep was getting to him, he couldn’t just prowl around someone else’s stuff!

But then his eye wandered towards the newspaper clipping again. It was a picture of him and Nathan standing in front of the solar system model they’d built together, looking kind of uncomfortable at the prospect of being pictured for what was presumably the school’s newspaper.

Was that his mom and dad in the background? He thinks he recognises his mom’s coat…

_We both smile uneasily at Cole, the school newspaper’s over-eager young photographer as he snaps what seems like twenty photos. Geez, wasn’t one enough?_

_When he’s finally done, we exhale in relief and move away from our exhibit. It has been nice to today, hearing from parents and some of my friends how good our exhibit looks, but it was starting to get a bit much now. Nathan is even more awkward about it, only mumbling the odd pleasantry when someone does try to talk to him. Still, at least he was polite to my parents earlier, even getting into a little conversation with Dad about how we decided to use magnets to strengthen the structure of our model._

_It was a huge improvement from last time._

_I turn to see our parents waving us over again, Mom smiling widely at us, evidently happy she managed to win a couple of prizes during a quiz game set up in the school’s assembly hall._

_“Hey guys!”, she grins, waving her favourite prize at us, a coupon for pancakes at the Two Whales Diner. “You two want a break? Me and Dad are going to head out to get some lunch if you’re hungry!”_

_I turn to Nathan, curious about what he’s going to say. Basically what my mom was offering were two things Nathan hated: eating a proper meal and talking to people he doesn’t know too well. But to my surprise Nathan smiles back at Mom and nods. I turn to Mom and nod as well._

_“Sounds great Mom…”_

_And with that, all four of us head out of school, me and my parent’s chatting excitedly together, while Mom occasionally tries to drag Nathan into the conversation, which she does manage to successfully a couple of times._

_I guess Mom extended the invitation to Nathan as well because she felt sorry for him, after finding out neither of his parent’s were able to make the parent-student day…_

Warren snaps himself back to reality. Okay, that had only been a short one, but he really needed to stop this now. This was clearly some kind of box for treasured memories for Nathan, there wouldn’t be anything in here to tell him why he and other-Warren were having issues. Besides, being inside other-Warren’s head was getting very disconcerting.

It was so strange, being himself, yet not himself at the same time.

As he goes to place the newspaper clipping back, he freezes when he sees what photo was underneath it.

It was a selfie picture, of the two of them, him and Nathan, lying down on the bed together. They were way older than they were in the newspaper clipping though- they looked about… fifteen? Sixteen? Seventeen? Old enough for Warren to get a decent haircut anyway.

But what really made Warren stare at the photo was the fact that he and Nathan were both shirtless in it- plus the way they looked at each other was so lovey-dovey, it was kind of disgusting.

It was just way too _intimate._ He needed to put this box away now before…

_I yawn as I stretch, feeling surprisingly well rested considering it was six-thirty in the morning right now._

_Nathan is still fast asleep beside me, his hair all mussed up on the pillow and his chest moving up and down in a slow, steady rhythm. I smile down at him, resisting the urge to run my hand through his hair, in case he accuses me of trying to make it all static-y again._

_But that’s when I spot his camera sitting on his lampstand. I smile and stretch over his body to grab it. Hey, you get to annoy your boyfriend at least once a day, right? So why not first thing in the morning?_

_I bend over him and kiss him lightly on the mouth. He murmurs something but doesn_ ’ _t awaken. So I switch to tickling his elbow and that seems to do the trick. He grabs my arm with his eyes still closed and mutters: “Stop that.” He finally opens his eyes though and smiles, bringing his head forward to kiss me back and I respond in kind. As soon as we’re done though, I raise the camera over our heads and tell Nathan to say: “Cheese!” The flash blinds us before Nathan can even comprehend what’s going on._

_It doesn’t take long before starts he trying to grab for his camera, yelling: “Warren! I told you, that’s not a toy!”, but I manage to hold it out of his reach. We’d recently worked out that while he has the longer legs out of the two of us, I still have the longer arms, which made up for the couple of inches he had on me when it came to holding stuff out of each other’s reach. I snap a few more photos of him looking all red and flustered as he tries to grab for the camera, just because I thought it looked funny._

_We keep wrestling for a few minutes like that until he finally manged to pin me down, and he takes the camera out of my grasp. He does his best to look annoyed, but he can’t stop laughing as he looks down at me, lying down on the bed with a stupid grin still plastered all over my face._

_He lowers himself down onto me and kisses me again, but it soon turns into a full make-out session as he puts his hands over my chest and I rub my hands against his bare back. He starts pressing light kisses against my collar bone, when he suddenly stops and frowns down at me._

_“It’s Monday isn’t it?”_

_I nod and he groans, pushing himself off me. He grabs a towel and mutters something about needing to get to class early today. Before he leaves the room though, he asks if we’re still heading out to the beach tonight and I nod. He smiles and pecks me on the nose, so I peck him on the chin just to make him laugh again._

_As he closes the door behind him, I sigh, putting my hands over my face. Christ, did I remember to finish that last bit of my programming homework last night? I thought I did, but I’d been practically fast asleep while doing it- I barely remember Nathan dragging me off to bed._

_Grabbing a shirt, not even bothering to look if it was me or Nathan’s, I get changed, telling myself I’ll make it up to Nathan tonight, after an entire week of me non-stop working. Even if the meteor shower wasn’t going to be as spectacular as I hoped, the beach was still a beautiful place to be at night, perfect for a photo opportunity._

_Yeah, it’ll be nice to have a night to just relax again, just the two of us…_

 

Warren gasps as he finds himself back in the present day again, quickly closing the box shut and flinging it under the bed.

That… that had been way too much for him. Confused, unsure young Warren he could take, but older Warren in a long-term relationship with his boyfriend?

Yeah. Way too intimate.

Still, it could’ve been worse, considering it had been a shirtless picture of the two of them…

Trying to cleanse his mind of these uncomfortable thoughts, Warren flung himself down onto his own bed and tried to sleep.

If there was anything good about these unwelcome recollections, at least they helped him feel tired enough to catch up on some well-needed rest.


	18. Foxes

Warren stared at the mirror Chloe was pointing at, not quite believing what he was seeing. The mirror, which only yesterday had been completely untarnished, was now covered in someone’s messy handwriting, written in jet-black marker pen. The handwriting was long and slanted, like whoever had written this had done so in a hurry. He stepped back from the mirror and read the message again, just to check that he had read it right the first time:

_‘??? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? WHO IS THIS?’_

Warren turns his head to look at Chloe again, who is slumped against a sink, her arms crossed against her chest. Her and Max had grabbed him and dragged him in here after school to show him this, Chloe making sure to put an ‘ _out of order’_ sign on the door, so they wouldn't be disturbed. He points at the mirror and asks Chloe:

“So… what exactly did you write on the mirror yesterday? Because it seems like you offended the… err… mirror ghost?”

“Don’t know what he’s upset about.”, Chloe shrugs, then pushes herself off the sink to go stand next to him. “All I asked him was if he was from another universe and what he knew about a storm.”

“Chloe…”, Max sighs, who is watching the door, in case Mr Madsen or a teacher came snooping. “What kind of reaction were you expecting? You must’ve sounded completely crazy to this guy!”

“Hey, I just wanted answers, okay?!”, Chloe protests angrily. “And if I can’t get my answers from a mirror ghost, where else am I going to get them?”

Warren leaves the two of them to argue as he slowly approaches the mirror and takes a pen out of his pocket. Chloe and Max stop their bickering to stare at what he’s written in his own small, neat handwriting:

_‘ARE YOU ALIVE?’_

As Warren steps back from the mirror, he can hear Max mutter quietly: “Lets hope that doesn’t scare him off completely…”

The three of them sneak out of the boy’s dormitory together and head back to Max’s room, where Chloe and Max get their research board out again. As Chloe and Max stick down some new photos on their board, Warren can’t help noticing an entirely new section that’s been added, simply labelled ‘ _KATE’._ When he throws a questioning glance at the two girls, Max explains:

“We decided last night we should be including what happened with Kate to our investigation. I mean, it’s probably nothing to do with all this supernatural stuff, but… you never know. Besides…”A troubled expression grows across Max’s face. “I… want to find out who did this to her.”

Warren tries to comfort her:

“I’m sure the police will find who did this soo…”

“But that’s the thing Warren! I don’t know if they will! The way the police have been handling this case has been… strange.”

Warren looks at her, confused, so Max elaborates:

“Like, sure, they’ve investigated the crime scene, talked to people at school and everything but… something weird is going on. Like the other day, Officer Berry tried to talk to some members of the Vortex Club about what happened at the party right before Kate got kidnapped but another cop told him to not waste his time. Officer Berry seemed pretty annoyed about it… but yeah, it’s like the Vortex Club kids were getting special treatment or something. And what’s even more suspicious is that the next Vortex party is still going ahead next week…”

“What?!”, Warren asks, bewildered. “After Kate being attacked?”

“Yeah, I know right? It’s crazy! And I know a lot of parents are complaining about it, so it might not actually go ahead but… still. It all points to someone trying to protect the Vortex Club and its members, maybe because they know something about what happened with Kate. So, me and Chloe were thinking… maybe we should try and infiltrate the club?”

“Infiltrate the club?”, echoes Warren, frowning. “How do we do that?”

“Well… you know how you had a near-death experience with Victoria Chase?”

“Yeah…”, he says, not liking where this was going.

“Could you… try and talk to her? Maybe ask her if you could ask her if she was at the Vortex party that night…”

“I don’t know Max, she seemed kind of pissed at me, I don’t know how I’d ever get her to tell me anything…”

“What about Nathan?”, Chloe pipes up, who was lying on the bed behind them, sneakers still on.

When the two of them just stare at her blankly she sighs in frustration.

“Well, come on, I’ve seen Nathan hanging out with Queen Bitch before, surely they’re kind of friends right?”

“Uhh… are they though?”, Max says, looking confused. “I always just figured she bossed him around a lot and he was too polite to tell her where to go.”

“To be fair Max, how many of Victoria’s friends actually like her?”, Chloe mutters, leaning on her elbow.

“Fair enough…”, Max murmurs, turning back to Warren. “So what do you think? Could you convince Nathan to talk to Victoria?”

“Umm… I’d rather not…”

“Why?”

“I think… well… we’re not really talking right now…”

Max’s brow’s furrow in concern.

“Warren… did he find out you’re from a parallel universe?”

“What? No, no… it’s just that…. we kinda, sorta argued and now… well, he said he wanted some time to himself.”

“So, what, you guys broke up or something?”, Chloe asks bluntly, looking up at them in rapt attention now.

“No… yes…. no? I don’t know, does it matter?”

“It does matter if we’re going to try and get your boyfriend to do something for us.”

“Don’t call him my boyfriend!”

“Fine! Your bro then! Just text him or something, say it’s an emergency, I’m sure he’ll come crawling back.”

Warren resists the urge to scowl at her and pulls out his phone. He sends a short text to Nathan, not telling him any details, just to call him when he can. He puts his phone back in his pocket and looks over at Chloe, who’s still lying down on the bed.

“Satisfied?”, he says, putting his hands out.

“Very.”, she says, swinging her longs legs off the side of the bed and sitting herself up. “Honestly, I’m still finding it hard to believe Nathan’s a complete psycho in your universe. He seems way too boring for that kind of shit.”

Suddenly Warren remembers something he was meaning to ask about:

“About Nathan… don’t suppose you guys could tell me if he had an accident about six months ago?”

Max looks over at him quizzically.

“You mean when he split his arm open?”

So, it was the arm…

“Yeah! What happened there?”

“I don’t know the details exactly, me and Nathan aren’t exactly friends. But I heard he accidentally scraped his arm along a sharp piece of metal lying around his room and burst a blood vessel. He was off school for a while…”

“And when he got back?”

Max shrugs.

“I mean… he was a lot quieter in class, but that wasn’t too unexpected, I think his arm was still hurting. But he’s been a lot better this past few weeks. At least, he was… I think he’s been worried about you these past few days.”

Warren feels a pang of guilt when she says that, but he tries to disregard it. After all, he was thrown into an impossible situation, how would anyone else react?

“Why you asking anyway?”, Chloe asks, a curious look on her face. “Do you think Nathan’s hiding something?”

“No! It’s just that me and him… well, him and other-Warren… but I’m supposed to know… but I don’t know… and… just don’t want to say something that might upset him again…”

As his words trail off, he notice the two girls looking at him thoughtfully. He clears his throat and asks: “What?”

“Nothing…”, Max says, shrugging. “Just that… I hope Nathan’s going to be okay. It’s going to suck if we can’t get other-Warren back…”

“Can we move on please?” This was an area of conversation Warren really didn’t feel like getting into. “What other members of the Vortex Club could we talk to? I do really want to help out however I can with this investigation.”

“Dana’s not a bitch, and she was at the Vortex Party that night.”, Chloe points out helpfully. “Maybe try talking to her? I’ll try Juliet, she’s a bit of an airhead but a major gossip, if anyone’s heard something, it’ll be her.”

“So we’ve got a plan then…”, Max mutters writing something down in her journal then snapping it shut. “If you don’t mind guys, I want to go to the hospital now, I want to check up on Kate…”

“Has she woken up yet?”, Warren asks hopefully.

Max shakes her head sadly.

“She looks a lot healthier now, but she’s still pretty weak. Her family’s coming up here tomorrow so I hope… I hope she’ll wake up soon.”

“Do you want me to go with you Max?”, Chloe asks, standing up from the bed and putting on her thin jacket.

“No, it’s fine Chloe, I know you don’t like hospi…”

“It’s fine Max, I want to go see Kate anyway. Who knows? Maybe a bit of extra moral support is all she needs.”

Max still looks over at Chloe with an uncomfortable expression on her face, like she’s not entirely convinced that Chloe’s fine tagging along, but she doesn’t argue. She looks like she’s about to ask Warren if he wants to come with them, but he quickly makes up an excuse about needing to finish up some homework. In truth, it’s because of the quick flash of annoyance Warren sees on Chloe’s face when Max asks him. Clearly she wanted to get Max on her own right now, and honestly, that was fine.

After all, she was her best friend. Max didn’t even know he existed until a few days ago.

He chastises himself for feeling left out right now as he walks back to his dorms. What was he, five? He was lucky he even had people he could talk to open and honestly right now…

The sound of someone’s frustrated sigh snaps him out of his deep thoughts. He looks down the hallway and is amazed to spot Dana standing opposite his room, seemingly by herself. She looks like she’s been crying…

“Dana?”, he asks in a hushed tone, trying not to scare her too much. “Are you alright?”

She glances over and gives him a weak smile.

“Oh, hey Warren. Sorry, I’ll be out of here soon, I just had to take care of some business.”

“Oh, right…”, Warren says, not entirely sure if he should get what she’s talking about. “But… you’re okay right?”

“Honestly, I’ve probably made the best choice I’ve made in a while…”, she says vaguely.

“Huh?”

“I just broke up with Logan, okay? After what happened with Daniel… I’m done making excuses for him. This is my last year of high school and I can’t spend it hanging out with losers like him. I’m even thinking about quitting the Vortex Club, the only reason I stuck with it was because of Juliet and even she’s getting a bit up herself nowadays…”

“Yeah, I get that… especially after what happened with Kate recently…”, Warren says, quickly remembering what Max and Chloe asked him to do.

“I know right? And a lot of that lot act like they don’t even care someone went missing from one of their parties! Victoria was really getting on my nerves because she kept talking about Kate getting off with some guy there which is totally not true, she’s not that kind of person…”

“Some guy?”, Warren asks urgently. “What, like someone from school?”

“I don’t know! It’s just some stupid rumour Victoria made up, you know what she’s like. I didn’t see any guys talking to Kate that night, she was mostly sticking with her own crowd, like Alyssa and people. I don’t think anyone noticed she was missing until like way later…”

“Right, right…”, Warren murmurs, locking away this nugget of information into the back of his mind. It wasn’t a whole lot to go on, but it was something. “Did anyone else in the Vortex Club spot anything suspicious?”

“Not as far as I know, we were all pretty wasted that night. It was no surprise somebody managed to drag Kate off without any of us noticing…” Dana sighs and puts her face in her hands. “Christ, we’re all idiots…”

“Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself…”, Warren says comfortingly, putting a light hand on her shoulder. “Even if you guys were sober, I doubted anyone would’ve spotted anything anyway. I guess most people just assumed she went home early.”

“Yeah, I guess…”, Dana mutters sulkily. “I still can’t believe anyone’s still going to next party. It’s like no one cares about anyone around here.” She widens her eyes at Warren. “No offence, I didn’t mean you. It’s just that… I don’t know. I guess I’ve only just started realising I’ve been hanging around some pretty shitty people.”

“Don’t worry about it Dana.”, he says, waving it off. “I think we all feel like that at some point in high school.” He pauses. “You’re sure you’re alright though? I know break-ups can be rough…”

“Yeah, it’s fine.”, she says briskly. “Things were going bad for a while anyway, it wasn’t a relationship worth saving. But thanks for asking. I think I’ll head back to my room now.”

And with that, she starts heading back down the hallway, and Warren starts putting the key in his door. Suddenly he stops, and looks back down the hallway at Dana’s retreating figure.

“Hey Dana?”, he calls.

“Yeah?”, she says, whipping her head around to look at him.

“I… just wanted to say thanks for looking after Daniel the other day. It was really nice of you.”

She gives him a warm, slightly teary smile.

“Thanks. It was no problem honestly, I like Daniel, he’s such a sweetheart… people shouldn’t treat him the way they do. And… it was really cool of you to stand up for him the other day. I’m glad you didn’t get suspended for that, despite Logan’s efforts.”

“Thanks.”, he says, smiling back at her. He can’t help thinking it’s a shame he never talked to Dana much back in his own universe, she seemed really nice.

And with that, Dana walks off around the corner and Warren enters his room.

The room was lit up with an orange glow from the sunbeams streaming through the window and Warren couldn’t help being reminded of the first time he’d walked in here. How long ago had that been now? Four days? It felt like forever…

He gets changed and tries to find a good book that might help him forget his worries for a while. To just switch his brain off for a few hours would be pure bliss.

As he quickly glances out the window, he can’t help spotting Max and Chloe walking across the quad. They look like they’re having a pretty heated conversation about something, something to do with Kate maybe? He can only hope Max gets back to school before curfew starts, he doesn’t want her getting into trouble…

_As I walk over to the window to close the blinds since it’s pretty dark out, I suddenly freeze when I spot Nathan walking about outside. What the hell was he doing? Curfew was in literally one minute and he can’t be going home tonight, all his school stuff is still here._

_As I continue to watch on, Nathan continues to walk across the quad, looking around nervously like he’s scared someone will spot him. There’s a large bulk sticking out from underneath his jacket. Is he hiding something under there?_

_Suddenly, he turns towards my window and jumps. Presumably he’s spotted me looking._

_I mouth ‘_ Wait’ _and I start running out of the dormitory and down the steps before he even has a chance to protest in sign language. As I run out onto the quad and meet him, he looks pretty embarrassed to be caught sneaking out, but he quickly collects himself._

_“Warren? What the hell are you doing here?”, he hisses, his eyes darting about nervously._

_“I could ask you the same thing.”, I say, putting my hands in my pockets and staring him down. “You could get suspended if someone catches you outside at this hour you know.”_

_“I know, it’s just… I need to go do something.”_

_“And what’s that exactly?”_

_It’s hard to tell what colour Nathan’s face is in the dark but I think it’s gone red._

_“It’s… kinda weird.”_

_“Try me.”_

_He sighs and reaches a hand inside a jacket and pulls out his camera._

_“I need to go take a photo of something, alright? It’s for my project and… what I need to take a photo of can only be taken at night.”_

_“What’s that then?”_

_Nathan’s about to answer when the sound of leaves rustling makes both our heads whip round. I spot a flashlight in the distance, and quickly realise it must be a security guard on patrol._

_“Shit!”, I hiss urgently. “Run!”_

_And with that we both book it, out of the school grounds and along the road, our shoes slapping against the tarmac, loud and clear in the quiet of the night. Nathan quickly runs out of breath and needs to stop, his breath ragged and shaky._

_As he holds himself against the wall, wheezing, I approach him, frowning._

_“Whatever shot you need to get, it better be worth nearly getting caught out of bed!”_

_Nathan shakes his head, laughing a little hysterically._

_“For you, it’s probably not worth it, but it certainly is for me. Crap, I don’t even know if they’ll still be there!”_

_“If what’s still where?”, I ask, genuinely intrigued now._

_Nathan points across the road._

_“There.”_

_I look at where he’s pointing but all I can spot is the liquor store that really closed down. Surely that wasn’t what he was talking about?_

_But apparently it is as he runs across the road, waving a hand at me to follow. I oblige, feeling a bit uneasy. The place was all boarded up and smelled a bit funky as I got closer. What on earth was so important that he needed to sneak out for this?_

_I’m about to ask this exact question when he puts a finger to his lip to shush me. I feel a bit put out but I keep quiet as Nathan tiptoes around the side of the building, gesturing for me to follow._

_When we reach the back of the store, he freezes suddenly in his tracks and stares at something by the garbage containers. I follow his line of sight and that’s when I see it._

_It’s a large moving mass, and at first my mind immediately goes to giant rats, but that panic is quickly forgotten when I realise they’re entirely the wrong shape and colour._

_One furry ginger creature and four smaller furry blobs._

_Foxes._

_A mother and its cubs._

_I stare at them, wondering how the fox had ended up giving birth behind here when I become acutely aware of Nathan reaching inside his jacket to take out his camera._

_He has the flash off but there is still a small click as he presses down on the button and takes the photo. The mother looks up from her children to give us a steady stare, like she’s trying to judge whether we’re a threat or not._

_Presumably she decides not to bother with us, as she gets back to giving her cubs a licking bath. They’re tiny, maybe only a few days old but they look pretty healthy for creatures born behind a dumpster._

_We stand there watching them for a couple more minutes, listening to the mewing sounds the cubs make as they stir from their sleep. Eventually we walk away, Nathan looking at his camera screen to check if the photo he too was decent. I ask him how he found them._

_“I like to walk around town at night sometimes. I dunno, I find it kind of peaceful when other people aren’t around. Anyway, I heard some noises the other night that I thought might’ve been a dog so I checked in case it was someone’s missing pet. Instead, I found them. And I was absolutely kicking myself that I didn’t have my camera on me, so I thought I’d sneak out tonight to take it. And it turned out pretty good!”_

_“Neat.”, I say, looking back up the road. “Hopefully we can sneak back into school without anyone seeing…”_

The sound of his phone ringing quickly brings Warren back to reality. He eagerly takes it out of his pocket but his heart quickly sinks when he sees the caller ID. If there’s anyone he doesn’t feel like talking to right now, it’s Nathan but he presses accept anyway, remembering his promise to Max and Chloe.

He takes a shaky breath, feeling weirdly nervous:

“Hey.”

A flurry of hurried speech follows:

“Warren? I got your message. Has something happened? Or do you just need to talk about…?”

“Nathan.”, he says, interrupting. “I know things aren’t great between us right now, but I really need your help.”

“What with?”, Nathan asks, his tone unnaturally neutral considering they hadn’t ended things on the best terms yesterday.

“You know Max Caufield and Chloe Price?”

“Um… yes? But why…?”

“They want me to help them find out who Kate’s attacker is.”

There it was, the truth, simple and blunt. There’s silence on the other end of the line, and Warren can’t really blame Nathan for not knowing what to say- from his perspective, that had come out of nowhere. He can hear a muffled sound like Nathan’s clearing his throat.

“Uh… what do you mean by that? Like trying to find more evidence to give to the police?”

“Kind of. We think the police aren’t investigating the Vortex Club properly, like they might be trying to cover up for somebody. So Max and Chloe asked me to talk to you.”

“But I’m not part of the Vortex Club!”

“But you know Victoria! Maybe you could get her to talk about what she saw the night Kate disappeared. Dana told me that Victoria said she saw Kate go off with some guy at the party, that sounds pretty damn suspicious.”

“Warren, I… I don’t know if Victoria will talk to me right now. She been pretty pissed with me ever since we saved her from jumping off the roof the other day. And that weird amnesia episode she had? Is she even a reliable witness?”

“Nathan. Try please. For me.”

As soon as those words leave his lips, he feels terrible about it. That was probably emotional manipulation at its finest.

But it seems to work as he hears Nathan groan into the mic before muttering: “Fine.”

“But Warren…”, he says, his voice suddenly very terse.

“Yeah?”, he asks nervously.

“I want to talk to talk to Max and Chloe tomorrow, okay? I want to know what exactly they’re getting you into. You’ve seemed pretty stressed out these past few days, I thought it was all to do with me, but if you’re taking on this extra responsibility of finding an attempted murderer, I…”

“Nathan. It’s fine. We’re just talking to other students, nothing dangerous, alright?”

There’s another silence before Nathan’s voice comes through the speaker again.

“Fine. I trust you. And… I hope you guys manage to find something.”

“Thanks.”, he says, feeling unexpectedly grateful. He was taking this a lot better than Warren thought he would. “See you tomorrow then.”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow. And Warren…”

“Yeah?”, he says, just about to end the call.

“I love you.”

Warren stops breathing, and he becomes acutely aware of his heartbeat getting more rapid. All he can think is: ‘ _Crap, crap, crap…’._

He doesn’t t know how long it takes him to talk again. Probably too long.

But he tries to say it anyway:

“I… love you too.”

The words come unnaturally off his tongue. They weren’t words he was accustomed to saying out loud that often, especially to a disembodied voice.

He quickly ends the call. He doesn’t want to hear a reply, he doesn’t want to imagine Nathan’s face on the other end.

He grabs a copy of _‘The Chrysalids’_ from his book collection and reads until his eyelids grow heavy and he slips into the blackness.


	19. T-Shirt

Warren wakes up early again.

As he cracks open his eyes he can see even through his fuzzy vision that it’s still practically the middle of the night. He forgot to close the curtains before he went to bed so the moonlight comes streaming in through his window, lighting everything up with a bluish glow. It was unnaturally quiet, and Warren couldn’t help wondering if it wasn’t just the birds that left town, but the crickets too.

He glances over at his alarm clock. Three-thirty in the morning. Damn, no wonder it was still so dark out. He should try and get back to sleep.

 As he gets up to go close the curtains a strange smell suddenly hits his nostrils, a horribly familiar smell, kind of like rust.

He looks down at the floor.

In the centre of the usually boring, beige carpet was a large, dark brown stain.

He doesn’t have to investigate much further to know that it’s blood.

Crap, what should he do? Report it? But what if it disappeared the way that girl did? Was this her blood? Had she been in here again?

He can’t stay in here, the smell is making him seriously sick…

Tiptoeing around the stain he goes to open the door but that’s when he notices the fainter stains leading from the middle of the room. Were they… footprints?

He turns on the light. Yep, there was no mistaking it. These were footprints, and whoever had made them had been completely barefoot.

And… the doorknob. There were bloody fingerprints all over it, like somebody had been struggling to get a grip on it. Warren gingerly touches it, flinching when he realises the blood is still all sticky and quickly opens the door and looks down the hallway.

It’s dark in the hallway but he can still see the footprints, slowly getting fainter as they head into the boy’s shower room.

Even though he’s not entirely sure this is a good idea, he follows the footprints, trying not to throw up again as he remembers the last time his curiosity got the better of him.

The smell of congealed blood wasn’t exactly helping.

He can’t hear anything inside. Maybe whatever made these footprints has already gone?

With a shaky hand, he shoves open the door.

It takes him a few seconds to fully comprehend what he’s seeing.

By the mirror he’d written on earlier, stood a guy, maybe about his age, but it was difficult to tell. His face was covered in cuts and bruises and his clothing was torn and shredded. Warren looked down at his feet and sees that he is indeed barefoot, bits of what looks like shards of glass sticking out of his skin.

The bloody figure and Warren stare at each other. The guy’s eyes are wide and crazy looking, bright white compared to the scarlet liquid covering his face. Still frozen, Warren’s eyes dart towards the guy’s left hand, which is holding a black marker. He had been in the process of writing something across the mirror, the handwriting large and jagged.

It said simply:

_‘H E L P’_

The guy takes a step towards him.

“Help me.”, he croaks, flinching as he hauls himself forward. He puts a hand on the sink to support himself, leaving a bloody handprint.

Warren takes a step back, feeling panic rise in his chest and his breathing getting more shallow and rapid. What was he looking at right now? Was he seeing things?

Suddenly the guy rushes forward and grabs Warren by the shirt, causing Warren to yelp in fear. This up close, he can see how deep the cuts are in his arm, smell the smoke and dried blood matted in his hair.

“Please! Don’t disappear again!”, the guy yells, his face only an inch away from Warren’s. “I need help! Just tell me how…”

The light flickers.

The room goes pitch black.

For a second it’s almost like… the room disappears, and Warren is standing on… nothing.

The light turns back on.

He’s still in the shower room. But the guy is gone, all traces of the blood are gone.

But the writing on the mirror remains…

Warren doesn’t care if it’s half past three in the morning, he rushes to Max’s room and pounds at her door, not even caring if he wakes up other people in the corridor.

Max opens up the door, her eyes still full of sleep and hair extremely dishevelled. She scowls at him.

“What the hell Warren?! Do you know what time it is…?!”, she hisses angrily, gesturing at him to come in anyway.

“Yeah, I know, sorry, but I have to talk to you right now, you’ll never believe what just happened to me…”, he babbles, heading towards the centre of Max’s room and turning towards her. Max rubs at her eyes. “I know Chloe said I might just be hallucinating, but what just happened felt super real. Something woke me up early, and then I noticed this huge stain on my floor. Anyway, it looked like bloo…”

He stops mid-sentence, when he realises Max’s expression has turned from general drowsiness to outright horror. He frowns at her, then realises she’s staring down at his chest.

He looks down at himself and gasps.

On his t-shirt was a scarlet handprint.

“Warren…”, Max whispers, her eyes wide as she continues to stare. “What the fuck happened?!”

***

“And… what? He just disappeared?”

“Yeah.”, Warren murmurs, really wishing he could remove his t-shirt right now. Now that Max had drawn his attention to the blood, the smell was filling his nostrils and he can feel the slight wetness on his chest. “It was kind of like last time, except this guy actually talked to me. He was… I don’t know, he was scared. He wanted my help and I… I didn’t know what I could do.”

“Probably nothing.”, Max mutters, looking doubtful. “I mean… you only had a second to react before he disappeared again. What could you do?”

“I guess… still, I wonder where these guys are coming from. I mean, the handprint proves it, I’m not imagining this right?”

“I suppose… do you reckon that blood stain in your room has disappeared? Have you looked?”

“No…”

“Well then…”, Max grins, picking up her camera. “Let’s go investigating!”

To their disappointment, nothing remains of the bloody mess in his room, but Max still insists on taking a photo of Warren and his messed-up shirt. As Max wanders off to the shower room to take a picture of the guy’s last message, Warren quickly removes his shirt and finds a clean one. It already makes him feel a lot better.

As Max walks back in, Warren casually asks her what’s the best way to get blood stains out of clothes. She shrugs.

“Depends… has it completely dried yet?”

Warren picks the shirt up to check then freezes.

“Max…?”

“What?”

“The blood… it’s gone!”

Max stares at him and the t-shirt he’s holding up. There’s no mistaking it, it’s the same shirt he’d been wearing earlier. But it was completely unstained.

The two of them look at each other- what the hell was going on?

***

“…and when we looked at the t-shirt again, the blood was gone!”

“And… so what? You think there are actually freaky ghosts coming into Warren’s room that night?”, Chloe asks sceptically, her back against the wall by the basketball court.

“I know what I saw Chloe!”, Warren says perhaps a bit too defensively, but he didn’t really like her implying that he was crazy.

“I’m not saying you’re lying! I’m just saying we don’t really understand what’s going on here! Why do these guys only appear in front of you and why are they covered in blood…?”

“I don’t know Chloe! I don’t know why any of this crap is happening to me! I just want all of this to stop, okay? So quit acting like I know what’s going on!”

“Quit being so sensitive! I’m just trying to…”

“Guys! Chill!”, Max suddenly yelps, interjecting. “This is freaky stuff we’re dealing with, no one’s debating that. But… we will try to figure out what’s going on. Maybe one of us could sleep in Warren’s room one night or something. But right now, we’ve got to deal with Nathan.”

“What do you mean deal with Nathan?”, Chloe frowns, looking over at Warren.

Warren sighs heavily and explains.

“Well, I asked Nathan if he’d speak to Victoia for us and he agreed, but on the condition he gets to talk to you guys about our little investigation thing. So I asked him to meet us here.”

Max stares at him.

“He knows about the whole parallel universe thing?!”

“What?! No, of course not!”, Warren retorts, feeling a little offended Max thought he could be that stupid. “I just told him we were trying to find more evidence, so we could help the police find Kate attacker. None of the supernatural stuff.”

“Why does he want to talk to us?”

“Because… he’s worried what we’re doing is dangerous.”

Max looks at him with that strange look on her face again. Warren can’t help thinking that she seems to make that face whenever he brings up Nathan…

“Max? You going to say anything?”

Max bites down on her lower lip, looking nervous.

“Warren… I’ve been thinking… if we’re getting Nathan involved in this maybe we should… tell him? I mean, his boyfriend’s basically disappeared and it doesn’t seem fair to…”

“Max! Are you out of your mind?!”, Warren shouts, staring in disbelief at her. “He’s going to think I’ve lost it! And I can’t exactly prove to him I’m not crazy!”

“We could back you up…”

“It’s going to take a lot more than that for Nathan to believe…”

“Believe what?”

All three of them freeze as they suddenly realise Nathan is standing in front of them, a curious look on his face. Warren stares at him. It was strange, it hadn’t exactly been that long since he last saw him, but Warren couldn’t help thinking he was even more tired looking than the last time he’d seen him, and maybe a little paler? Was he ill or something?

Also, he was wearing that black shirt again, the one with the white door design printed on the chest. It really did look like that door from the old Twilight Zone opening…

Nathan’s eyes wander across the three of them, clearly confused as to why no one was answering his question.

“Uh… did I walk in on something?”

Thankfully Chloe was far more quick to react than Max or Warren:

“Well, young Prescott…”, Chloe says, walking forward and lightly jabbing Nathan in the chest with her finger. “Warren here was just telling us that you don’t believe we’re trying to help Kate out of the goodness of our own heart’s and, quite frankly, I’m offended.”

Nathan blinks at her, looking even more confused.

“What? That’s not what I said at all! I’m just trying to understand what you guys are doing here!”

“Ah! Detective work my friend!”, Chloe says smugly, tapping her nose. “Caufield and Graham are my little helpers in this investigation, an investigation into the seedy underbelly of Arcadia Bay! Wanna join?”

Even Max and Warren are confused by Chloe’s rambling now. Where the hell was she going with this? Nathan just continues to look dumbfounded so Max tries to more calmly explain:

“Look Nathan, we just think something fishy is going on with the Vortex Club. It just seems suspicious that everyone just keeps saying they didn’t see anything and the police don’t seem to be doing their job properly. I mean, apparently Victoria has been shooting off her mouth about some guy she saw go off with Kate, yet the police aren’t even looking for this guy or asking anyone else if they’ve seen him. So, what gives? Either Victoria didn’t tell the police about it or they chose to ignore what she told them. We need to find out which it is, so could you please talk to her? I know you guys work together in class a lot.”

Nathan chews his lip, looking doubtful.

“I mean… yeah, I guess I could try. She’s been avoiding me lately, but we still have to work on our project together- I’m meant to be meeting her soon actually. Maybe if I tread carefully, she’ll open up to me…” Nathan pauses, his face suddenly turning serious. “Are you guys sure it’s safe to get involved in all this? I mean, someone did try to kill Kate, what if they find out you guys are…”

“We’re being careful.”, Max says firmly, her gaze steady. “We’re not idiots Nathan, we won’t draw any attention to ourselves. But we need to find out what happened to Kate. I… need to know.” Max’s eyes go a little glassy. “I just feel like I… owe it to her. Because I didn’t get there in time.”

 “Max…” Nathan reaches out a hand, looking distressed. “You saved her! Sure, she’s in a bad state now, but she’ll get better, I know she will. And it’s not like you could’ve predicted what would…”

“Are you helping us or not Nathan?”, Max suddenly snaps, unusually abruptly.

Nathan stares at her for a few seconds, before finally sighing and nodding.

“Sure, I guess. I’m meant to be meeting Victoria in the library pretty soon. Maybe… if you guys hid behind a bookcase or something you could listen in? I mean, if that’s not too weird…”

“Nathan…”, Chloe says, smirking. “We are the definition of weird. Listening in to other people’s conversations is actually pretty far down the list of weird shit me and Max get up to.”

Max blushes at that, and Warren can’t help looking at her, wondering what exactly Chloe meant by that. He catches Nathan doing the same thing and they both quickly look away from each other, the awkwardness of last night’s phone call still hanging in the air. It occurs to Warren that it’s almost like Nathan is deliberately avoiding direct eye contact with him- hell, he’d only addressed Max and Chloe for his questions.

“So… uh… yeah.” Nathan points vaguely towards the school building. “Should we start heading to the library now?”

The three of them oblige and start following Nathan, who walks in stony silence with Warren whilst Max and Chloe walk behind them, whisper between themselves. Warren doesn’t catch most of what they’re talking about but it sounds like Max is trash talking Victoria, presumably about something mean she’d said to Max about her photos this morning. Warren tries to tune it out as he looks over at Nathan. Sure, he’d wanted Nathan to leave him alone, but him blanking to his face like this was a bit… unnerving.

Trying to engage him in conversation, Warren hesitantly asks how he’s doing.

Nathan shrugs.

“I’m fine I guess. Tired. But Marie’s been cool, she let me stay in one of the spare bedroom’s, one that hasn’t been completely taken over by cardboard boxes yet. How about you? You look terrible.”

Warren is surprised by this blunt comment, but he gives a somewhat honest answer.

“Didn’t sleep well.”

Nathan nods sagely.

“Did you have a nightmare again?”

Warren pauses before answering:

“Yes..?”

Nathan sighs.

“Warren, you need to talk to someone, this isn’t normal for you. I could give you the number of my current shrink, she might know someone who deal with night terrors…”

“I’m fine Nathan, honestly. I think I’m just… stressed, okay? I just need to chill out a bit.”

“Right…”, Nathan says, not looking entirely convinced but he does drop the subject.

As they approach the library door, Nathan looks nervously through the small window panel in the door and curses.

“She’s already there! Okay… I’ll go in first and you guys follow when I’ve manged to get her full attention, alright? But make sure she doesn’t spot you guys listening in, okay?”

Chloe mock salutes.

“Yes sir! And you make sure she doesn’t realise you’re pumping her for information!”

Nathan groans, clearly not looking forward to the task at hand, but he walks in anyway and Max, Chloe and Warren observe him through the door, watching him approach Victoria’s desk and sit himself down next to her. Victoria seems to curtly greet him, but it’s clear from her body language that she’s not keen to see him. Nathan whispers something to her and at first she doesn’t react that much, her head still hunched down in her notes but as Nathan leans over to try and get her attention, she scowls and seems to snap at him, looking extremely annoyed by whatever he’s saying.

Chloe turns to look at Max and Warren and mouths: “Lets go…” and the three of them quietly sneak in and find a convenient hiding place in the History section, within earshot of Nathan and Victoria’s conversation:

“I’m telling you Nathan!”, Victoria hisses, loud enough so that the library assistant scowls over at the two of them. “Just shut up about the roof, okay?! And if you tell anyone I was up there, I’ll…”

“I wasn’t going to tell anyone! I was just worried about you! Why were you up there?”

“I don’t know! And if I find out you and that geeky friend of yours did something to me, I swear I’ll…”

“Victoria!”, Nathan snaps, looking suddenly quite angry. “Do you actually think I’d do something like that to you?!”

Victoria sticks out her lip, looking characteristically sulky. But eventually she lets out a heavy sigh and says much more tranquilly: “No. I guess I know you wouldn’t really.”

Nathan looks at her, cautiously placing his hand next to hers and asks in a more concerned tone:

“Victoria… are you… okay? Did the police give you a hard time, grilling you about that guy you saw with Kate?”

“What?!”, Victoria gasps, looking around to make sure no one else had heard them. She leans forward and hisses urgently: “Where the hell did you hear that?!”

“Oh! Right! Uh…”, Nathan stammers, looking like he was wishing he was anywhere else right now. “Sorry, I must’ve heard wrong! Just that I heard a bunch of people talking about how you were one of the key witnesses in the case. My bad, I should’ve realised it was just rumour…”

“Who’s been saying that?!”

“I don’t know! I don’t know their names!”

Victoria groans and puts her head in her hands, whilst Nathan looks on helplessly at her, not sure what to do. Eventually she brings her head up again and says something so softly, Warren strains to hear what she’s saying:

“It’s not… entirely untrue.”

Nathan raises his eyebrows at her, keen for her to continue. Victoria moodily explains:

“I don’t think this guy was the guy who attacked her, okay? He looked like a total dork, sweater vest and huge glasses. He disappeared from the party hours before she disappeared. I recognised this guy from somewhere, but I couldn’t quite place it, so I just assumed he was some student I’d seen around school. Looking back on it though, he did seem a little older than everyone else… anyway, Kate was making a fool of herself, she was so drunk…”

“Kate?! Drunk?”, Nathan asks, completely bewildered. “That doesn’t sound like her at all…”

“Yeah, yeah, I know everyone says that, but she’s a repressed type you know? I just figured she was letting herself go crazy for once…”

Nathan scowls at her.

“So some weirdo was taking advantage of her while she was and you couldn’t even be bothered to help?!”

Victoria snorts at that.

“Please! She was bothering the guy! He was trying to go to the bathroom and she had her hands all over him, just saying all this desperate stuff. She kept trying to kiss him and eventually he just pushed her off him and ran. She barely noticed he wasn’t there anymore, that’s how far gone she was.”

“And? What happened next?”

“I don’t know, she just kept wandering around the dance floor, before collapsing on a sofa somewhere. Honestly, I wasn’t looking at her much, I was hanging out with my friends. It’s not like I could’ve known something bad might’ve happened to her!”

“No…”, Nathan says icily, narrowing his eyes at her. “But you maybe shouldn’t’ve been making fun of her the very next day. Dana told me you how you told everyone Kate got wasted Victoria, I guess I’d just hoped it wasn’t true.”

“Oh really?”, Victoria snarls, grabbing her notes from the desk. “You know what Prescott? You can fuck off with that high and mighty attitude! I didn’t know Kate was kidnapped at the time so don’t pin that on me!”

“You could’ve at least told the police about the guy!”, Nathan says angrily, not even bothering to lower his voice now. The library assistant looks like she’s ready to throw them out.

“I did! And they told me he was unlikely to be who they were looking for but they’d ask around anyway. Apparently the guy they’re looking for is a lot more muscular than the person I described… so it doesn’t even matter anyway!”

“It matters that you knew she was intoxicated and didn’t do anything about it! It must’ve crossed your mind that someone might’ve dosed her! Do you really hate her that much?!”

“You know what Nathan!”, she growls, jabbing him sharply in the chest. “At least I’m not like everyone else at this fucking school, acting like they never made fun of Kate or thought she was preachy! As soon as something bad happens to her, everyone acts like they were her best friend! Well, not me. Don’t get me wrong, it sucks this happened to her, but I’m not going to act like I ever liked her. I hope she gets better, but don’t expect me to send her flowers because I’m not fake like you are!”

And with that she storms off, leaving Nathan sitting at the desk, looking rather shaky. He looks over at the bookcase where Max, Warren and Chloe are hiding and says in a weak voice: “Well… that went well.”

The three of them come out of their hiding place and Chloe smiles at Nathan brightly.

“Brilliant Nathan! We know she did tell the police about the guy now!”

Nathan looks unimpressed.

“And that tells you guys… what?”

“Well…”, Chloe says, putting up her fingers. “This tells us: one, the police are deliberately ignoring information, two, the guy was wearing a sweater vest and three, someone most likely dosed Kate while she was at the party.”

“That’s not much to go on…”

“Well it’s something! Hope you don’t mind us breaking up your beautiful friendship with Miss Chase there!”

Nathan murmurs something about ‘not his friend…’, when suddenly he stares at something just over Chloe’s shoulder.

“Max… are you okay?”

Both Warren and Chloe look behind them to see what’s caught Nathan’s attention about Max, when they both freeze in shock. Max’s face is completely drained of colour and she’d shaking uncontrollably, tears leaking from her eyes.

Chloe grabs her by the shoulders.

“Max?! What’s wrong?! Talk to me!”

Suddenly the shaking stops and Max stares at Chloe like she’d forgotten where she was. She pushes Chloe off her and runs for the door, the three of them running after her. They catch up with her down the hallway, Chloe grabbing her hand to stop her.

“Max?! What the hell?! Where are you going?!”

“We have to get to the diner! NOW!”

“Max? What are you…”

“SOMETHING BAD’S GOING TO HAPPEN, I CAN FEEL IT!”

Warren stomach sink as she utters those words. Was she right? Was someone else about to be hurt?

“What?!”, Chloe gasps in horror. “Max, my mom’s working there today!”

 _“_ I know! That’s why we have to hurry…”

“Guys…”, Nathan says, nervously approaching the two girls. “What do you mean something bad is going to happen? What…”

“We don’t have time to explain!”, Chloe yells, running for the entrance with Max and Warren following. It’s only when they reach the parking lot when they are finally stopped by Nathan as he grabs Chloe’s shoulder.

“OW!”, Chloe yelps, scowling ferociously at him. “What the hell Nathan?!”

He jangles some keys in front of her face.

“My car’s right there and last time I checked the diner’s quite a distance away…”

***

Even with Nathan driving furiously over the speed limit, they don’t make it in time.

There’s a policeman trying to push the crowd away from the scene, presumably waiting for back up to come. There’s no barrier or cover for the body lying there on the road, mangled and broken, skid marks leading from the crime scene. It's likely the person got hit by the car just before the three of them arrived there, since there are still people standing around in shock, not quite sure what they’d just seen.

Chloe looks around wildly until she spots her mom standing in the crowd, writhing her apron between her hands anxiously. Chloe rushes over and hugs her tightly, startling her but she soon quickly returns it, stroking a hand through her short blue locks.

Warren shoves his way past the crowd to try and get a better look. He needs to know who died before someone came to cover the body up or it would drive him crazy all night…

It’s a young man, maybe not that much older than Warren. He’s tall, kind of skinny looking with a bad complexion. His overly neat sandy blonde hair has blood in it from a presumably cracked skull and his blank, glassy eyes stare at Warren in horror, now forever gazing at whatever vehicle had hit him at high speed.

Warren doesn’t know him.

But as he looks down at the red sweater vest the dead man is wearing and the broken glasses lying by his face, Victoria’s words echo in his mind:

_‘He looked like a total dork…’_


	20. Letters

Warren sits on the bench, doing his very best not to hurl. He’d seen a lot these last few days but seeing that body lying down on the road, sad and broken, it was too much.

He was semi-aware of Max and Chloe standing a few feet of him with Chloe’s mom, the diner waitress. Chloe was still just relieved her mom was okay, despite looking slightly drained whilst Max questions her about what happened.

The body was covered now and as Warren watches it get carried away into the ambulance, he feels someone sit beside him. He doesn’t even have to turn around to know that it’s Nathan. After all, who else would be paying attention to him with all this crap going on?

“Warren…”, Nathan asks softly, placing a hand beside Warren’s like he was being careful not to touch him. “Are… you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine…”, Warren mumbles, doing his best not to sound pained.

Nathan saw through it.

“You’re clearly not. Look, I don’t know what was happening with Max before, and you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to… but I know for a fact you think that dead guy was the one Victoria was talking about. And the fact someone did a hit and run on him must mean someone wanted him dead because he knew something about Kate’s disappearance. That’s what you’re thinking, right?”

Warren groans to himself: why couldn’t Nathan be an idiot? The last thing he needed was him also getting involved in all this, especially now their investigation had a body count. And how exactly was he supposed to explain Max’s weird premonition back there?

As Warren continues to be silent, Nathan sighs and pulls his hand back.

“Warren… you need to stop getting involved in this. Now. We’ll… we’ll talk to the police, get them to take Victoria’s story seriously then we’ll leave it at that, okay? These people clearly mean business and I don’t want you getting hurt because they find out you guys are…”

“Fine.”

Warren doesn’t have the strength to argue right now and in his tired mind, visions of blood stains and mangled bodies continued to swirl, making his chest tighten as he smelled the phantom smell of blood in his nostrils…

“Warren? Warren!”

Nathan grabs Warren as he body suddenly sags to the side, his head feeling suddenly way too heavy for his body. He can hear people talking to him but it’s like his ears are muffled…

When he’s finally able to lift his head again, he sees Max and Chloe standing over him looking concerned, whilst Nathan rubs his back, telling him quietly but urgently to take deep breaths. Warren obeys and after a few minutes, he feels almost normal again, except for the fact his breath was pretty rank after throwing up in his mouth.

“Holy crap Warren, you look like shit! You’re not going to die on us or something are you?”

Chloe being tactful as always…

“I’m fine…”, Warren slurs, trying to keep his head steady. “I just… I need sleep, alright?”

Nathan looks up at the girls and asks if they want a lift back to school with him and but Max replies that she’s going back to Chloe’s house tonight and that they were getting a lift off her mom. When Max asks Warren if he wants to meet them tomorrow, Warren just shrugs since he can still feel Nathan’s eyes bearing in on him.

As the two groups say goodbye to each other, Nathan leads Warren to his car, Warren practically having to lean on him the entire way. Warren can’t help feeling slightly pathetic as Nathan carefully opens the car door for him and he slumps in his seat- why did he have to be the only one who felt faint around dead bodies?

As Nathan reaches over to open the car windows, Warren raises his eyebrows questioningly at him. Nathan shrugs.

“Hey, I’ve seen you throw up while dissecting a frog- I just want to make sure you have somewhere to aim that isn’t the windshield.”

Warren rolls his eyes at him and looks out the window whilst Nathan gets the engine going. As Nathan drives out the parking lot, trying to avoid the rapidly growing crowd hanging around the diner, Warren watches Max and Chloe walking together in the distance. As they both reach Joyce who is standing by her car, Chloe suddenly rushes forward to hug her again. Warren can’t help thinking about his own mom, back in his universe. Did she even know he was gone? Would he ever get to see her again? That thought really scared him…

“Warren? Are you listening to me?”

“Huh?” He hadn’t been paying attention to what Nathan had been saying at all…

“I was asking if you’re okay to go straight back to school? I was thinking if you’re still feeling sick we could stop by a phamac…”

“Nathan…”, Warren suddenly interrupts, his voice catching as he remembered what had been in his room last night. The blood stain, the footprints leading from it, the boy asking for help… “Can we… I… I don’t really feel like sleeping in that room tonight.”

“Oh. Right.”, Nathan says, looking like he wants to ask about something but decides against it. “I mean… I’m staying at Marie’s tonight but you if you don’t want to… I mean, I’m sure she’d be happy to have you…”

“That sounds fine.”, Warren mumbles, his eyes half open as he feels himself drift off…

_“So, James was telling the truth then? You and Nathan are… what? Friends?”_

_“Uhh… yeah? It’s kind of complicated…”_

_“Hey look, I’m not judging.”, Amanda says, putting her hands up. “I’m just surprised that’s all. Weren’t you guys trying to tear each other’s head’s off a few weeks ago?”_

_“Yeah, but we’ve talked and stuff and… he’s an alright guy when he’s not being all defensive. Maybe a friend’s what he needs right now?”_

_“Hmmm…”, Amanda murmurs, unconvinced, putting her hand back into mine as we walk down the hallway. It’s still a little strange, having a girl hold my hand but it is a pretty nice feeling. “Don’t get me wrong Warren, I believe in second-chances and all, but from what I’ve heard, this is like his fifth or sixth chance at a new school…”_

_“Seventh. He told me about it. And… maybe he wasn’t always the nicest guy around, but from the sounds of it he didn’t live in very good company. Sometimes having just one good friend can teach you a lot about how to get along with people…”_

_“You think so?”_

_“I know so.”, I smile, pushing a strand of dark hair out of her face. “After all… you were the first good friend I made here, you know that?”_

_Amanda laughs._

_“Don’t let James hear you say that! He totally thinks he’s top of your best friend’s list!”_

_“Does he now? So… who’s higher up on your list? Me or James?”_

_Amanda smiles, bringing her hand to my face and pulls me forward into a kiss. I happily return it, thankful she hadn’t been put off after our very first kiss where I’d awkwardly frozen with shock and couldn’t move my lips properly. Thankfully, I’d improved a lot since…_

_As we finally break apart, Amanda’s attention is suddenly caught by something behind my shoulder. She waves._

_“Hey Nathan!”_

_I turn round and see that Nathan is indeed walking towards us, presumably on his way to his next class. He looks a little surprised to see us and quickly looks towards his feet, his face quickly reddening. He whispers something that sounds like ‘Hi…’ and quickly tries to scurry away but Amanda isn’t quite done with him yet._

_“Hey Nathan, Science club is having a food and quiz night tomorrow! Would you feel like coming along?”_

_Nathan stares at her, looking very confused by the question. He looks at me and I just nonchalantly shrug, not quite sure what Amanda was up to._

_“I… uh… think I’m busy tomorrow…”, Nathan mumbles, looking desperately down the corridor, clearly wishing to escape._

_“Well, it starts at eight so if you do have time, just drop by!”, Amanda says chirpily, smiling sweetly._

_Nathan gives her a weary smile and walks away quickly, leaving me to stare at Amanda in bewilderment._

_“What was that about? You weren’t so keen on him a minute ago!”_

_“Well, you know… if me and you don’t work out…”, Amanda drawls, flicking her hair. She rolls my eyes when she sees my face. “I’m kidding Warren! I just thought since, you know, you guys are friends now, you should start bringing him along to some things. I don’t think I’ve seen him talk to anyone else in this school besides you…”_

_“I think he talks to Daniel sometimes…”_

_“Daniel isn’t exactly a chatty-type either! Face it Warren, Nathan needs more than just you if he wants to survive high school. And… if you think he’s an alright guy behind the whole asshole façade, well… maybe you’re right.”_

_“You think?”_

_“Yeah… after all you clearly have good taste.”_

_I smile at her and we kiss again, jumping apart when a nearby teacher barks at us to cut it out. We head to class together and spend a happy afternoon doing some metal-acid reactions. Being Amanda’s boyfriend had many perks to it, but having an intelligent lab partner was definitely one of the more advantageous ones._

_After class I head straight back to my room, planning on finishing all my homework tonight so I don’t have to think about it over the weekend. I’m surprised to see Nathan lying back on his bed, laptop on his lap, since I’d thought he said he had to go out for dinner with his parents._

_“Hey.”, I say, casually throwing my bag on the floor. “You staying here tonight? I thought you’d be heading out by now?”_

_“Dad had to cancel. That’s fine with me though, I didn’t really feel like going out.”_

_“Uh-huh. Fair enough…”_

_It’s a funny thing with me and Nathan, we can talk and argue for hours about something as stupid as the significance of Mace Windu having a purple light sabre, but any time he brings up anything to do with his home-life, an awkward silence seems to develop. I mean, sure, plenty of kids around here don’t have the best relationships with their parents but it’s a little strange we’d been living in the same room together for nearly two months and I still didn’t know a whole lot about Nathan’s family. Mind you, I was probably one of those people who talked about their family too much so who was I to judge?_

_“Sooo… anyway…”, I say slowly, trying to get some conversation going again. “I ordered a Lord of the Rings boxset the other day, it should be in the school mail office by now. Do you wanna start watching them tonight?”_

_“Lord of the Rings?”, Nathan says, finally looking up from his laptop. “Aren’t those the movies you said were like three hours each?”_

_“Three-to-four hours, yeah. They’re really good though!”_

_Nathan groans and rubs his eyes._

_“Fine, but I can’t promise I won’t fall asleep.”_

_I look at him, noticing the heavy bags under his eyes._

_“Were you out taking photos of the fox again last night?”_

_Nathan fidgets._

_“I was out, but I wasn’t taking photos of the fox… I was at the junkyard. You can get some pretty good shots there at night.”_

_I stare at him in bemusement._

_“Yeah, no offence Nathan but I’m starting to think Amanda has a point about you needing more of a social life.”_

_Nathan glowers at me and mutters: “Fuck off…” under his breath._

_I turn to leave the room when I pause and look back towards him._

_“So… are you going tomorrow night?”_

_“No.”, Nathan says shortly, looking back down at his laptop, clearly wanting to end the subject right there._

_But I continue._

_“I mean… it could be fun, you know? And I’d be there so it’s not like you wouldn’t know anyone…”_

_“I’ll think about it Warren.”_

_Judging by the tone of his voice, it was clear he had no intention of doing that, so I just admitted defeat and walked toward the door. Just as I was about to leave however, Nathan casually asks me o check his mail as well, since he was expecting a new camera strap to arrive any day now._

_As I walk into the musty office, I’m happy to see that a small package in my letterbox, as well as the latest issue of National Geographic. I don’t spot any packages in Nathan’s box, but there are several letters, mostly official looking but there were a couple more envelopes that looked more personal, with handwritten addresses._

_When I arrive back in my room, I hand Nathan his mail. He flicks through the small pile, throwing most of it to the side, when he suddenly pauses and opens up one of the envelope, pulling out what looks like a handwritten letter._

_To my surprise, Nathan starts smiling as he reads. I hardly ever saw him smile unprovoked and never this naturally. It was like he’d forgotten I was in the room._

_I cough a little to get his attention and the smile quickly fades again. I feel kind of bad for breaking him out of his happy little stupor, but curiosity easily overcame that:_

_“Is that from a friend of yours?”, I ask, my eye caught by the fairly effeminate writing._

_“My sister.”, Nathan replies, glancing down at the papers in his hand. “She goes to a boarding school in Switzerland, so we don’t really see each other that much. But she writes me a pretty lengthy letter at least once a month and we email occasionally. She even sends me some photos sometimes, look…”_

_Nathan hands me a small stack of photos, that consist of mainly touristy pictures of Geneva landmarks, group skiing shots, and pictures of a girl drinking in various bars who I had to assume was Nathan’s sister. I could see a little resemblance in the face, though Nathan’s sister looked like she could easily be 5’10” and it seemed like she had a much more relaxed and bubbly personality than her brother. I hand Nathan back the photos._

_“She looks… nice. How old is she?”_

_“Kristine’s sixteen, nearly seventeen. She forgot to send me a letter last month because of all the extra work she has to do this year, plus she’s sending out applicants to do work experience with the Peace Corps and she’s kind of stressed about it because her grades weren’t that great last year…”_

_Nathan continues to talk and I just keep listening, happy that he’s the one carrying the conversation for once. It’s clear that he really admires his sister and it was pretty nice to know he did have family he got on with, even if he didn’t get to see her in person that much._

_After about another minute, Nathan stops talking so he can read the rest of the letter and I go and set up the DVD on my laptop. As the menu screen starts playing and glance over at Nathan, who is now looking down at the next envelope in the stack. The address is written in scrawled writing with what looked like a fountain pen and Nathan has the strangest look on his face as studies it._

_“Is that also from a family member?”, I pipe up, since I’m not done being a nosy parker yet._

_“Sort of…”_

_To my surprise, Nathan stands up and dumps the unopened envelope into our paper bin and walked back to his bed like it was a completely normal thing to do. I stare at him._

_“Uhhh… don’t you want to read that?”_

_“No.”_

_Great, back to one-word answers again…_

_I try to probe further:_

_“Is it… from someone you don’t get on with?”_

_“I’ve never met them.”_

_“Oh. Right…”_

_I look at Nathan, but he didn’t seem too interested in explaining, seemingly transfixed by a loose thread on his mattress. I cough again, hoping he takes the hint._

_Nathan sighs._

_“It’s from my Dad’s dad alright? My family haven’t talked to him in forever because his drug and gambling problems nearly cost the family fortune when Dad was younger, and he couldn’t even be bothered to help sort out the mess he made when he retired from the business, he just ran away to L.A and continued to spend the family money. Anyway, he moved back into the old family estate a few years ago with some gold digger about thirty year younger than him and has been trying to contact me and my dad ever since. Dad told our secretary to block his calls and throw away the letters, but I guess she got lazy this time.”_

_I frown over at the bin, trying to take in all this exposition:_

_“So… your grandad’s back in town and he’s trying to get in contact with you? I mean, if he’s been sending multiples letters, it sounds like he’s quite keen to reconnect with you guys…”_

_“He’s an embarrassment to the family, and if he’s really sorry he’d leave us alone in peace and give the family estate back to my dad.”, Nathan says almost robotically, like it’s something he’s been trained to say a thousand times._

_I frown at him._

_“Is that your opinion or your dad’s?”_

_Nathan groans and covers his face with the pillow._

_“Warren, I don’t care about this shit, okay? So just drop it, please!”_

_I think about just moving on and watching the movie._

_But then I think about my grandad, how he’d been surrounded by family just before he died, how even then he’d been so scared…_

_I surprise myself and walk over to the bin and pull out the envelope. Nathan looks so taken aback he can’t even find the voice to protest as I open up the envelope and start reading. It’s not an especially long read so it doesn’t take long for me to finish. I glance over at Nathan and hold the letter out to him but he just stares at me like I’m nuts. I sigh and place the letter down on the bed._

_“Look, just read it. Then make up your mind about whether you want to talk to him or not, okay? It won’t hurt you to read one letter from him.”_

_Nathan continues to glare at me, but he does pick up the letter and grudgingly reads it. I try to act like I’m not looking, but I can’t help noticing how his frown slowly fades away as he reaches the end of the letter. As he places the letter back on the bed, he looks back at me with a confused look. He sighs._

_“I… look Warren, I’m not so sure about this…”_

_“That’s fine. You don’t need to decide anything immediately. But I think…” I check the letter. “Yeah, he did write down on his phone number, so you don’t even have to see him in person if you do decide to talk.”_

_Nathan just continues to look kind of rigid, looking down at his clasped hands like he desperately wants to be anywhere else right now._

_I point over at my laptop._

_“Want to watch the movie now…?”_

“So… we gonna talk about what happened back there?”

Warren stares at Nathan, trying to get his bearings again. Yes, he was in Nathan’s car, that’s right, they weren’t twelve going on thirteen, they were way older now and they were driving back from the diner, right after they saw that body…

“Warren? You still feeling faint?”

“What? Oh, no, no. Just… lost in my own head I guess. What did you say?”

Nathan sighs to himself, keeping his eyes on the windshield as they drove down one of Arcadia Bay’s more spirally roads. Warren had no idea where they were headed, but he guessed this Marie must live on the outskirts of town, he hadn’t been out here much.

“Look, I just want to know… how did you get involved with Max and Chloe’s investigation thing? I didn’t think you guys even knew each other that well.”

Warren shrugs and looks out the window.

“It was… an accident I guess. Max seemed pretty upset about Kate so I comforted her about it and… I don’t know, she opened up to me. She asked me to help finding out who kidnapped Kate and… I couldn’t exactly say no.”

Nathan stays silent for so long, Warren wonders if he’d even heard him. But just as he’s about to repeat himself, Nathan speaks again:

“Did you know him?”

“Who?”, Warren asks, very confused now.

“The guy that just got run over. Did you know him?”

“Uhhh… no.” Warren looks over at him. “Why? Did you?”

“I don’t… think so?” Nathan frowns. “But something about his face… seemed familiar. But I can’t quite place it…”

“You reckon you’ve seen him around Arcadia before?”

“Possibly. I’m not sure.” Nathan glances over at him. “It was… kind of weird Max knew about it before we even got there.”

Warren doesn’t say anything, trying to pretend he was captivated by Arcadia’s shoreline, which, to be fair, did look pretty stunning tonight.

“Warren…”, Nathan persists, a slightly nervous quaver in his voice. “What… happened there?”

Warren tries to think of what he can say. So far, the best policy for him was to tell mostly the truth with the most important details left out. May as well continue like that.

“Max… thinks she’s able to tell when a misfortune is about to happen, almost like she can tell the future or something.” Warren glances over and sees the disbelieving look on Nathan’s face. “Hey, I’m not saying I believe it.”

“But she believes it. Warren, you shouldn’t be encouraging her like that…”

“Well, I said I’d stop this investigation shit, didn’t I?! So drop it!”

Warren knew he shouldn’t have snapped at him, as soon as he saw the hurt on Nathan’s face, but he couldn’t help it. His head was hurting again and he kept seeing fuzzy images beneath his eyelids…

_“Hey Nathan, where you going?”_

_Nathan smiles at me, one hand on the door. Quiz night had been going okay, all things considered. I’d convinced Daniel to come along as well so that Nathan would have at least one person to talk to while I hanged out with James and Amanda and he’d even managed to get a few questions right on the Art and Literature sections during the quiz. The last time I’d seen him he’d been making somewhat awkward conversation with Amanda, so it was kind of shame to see him leaving the party so early in the proceedings._

_“I…  I just need to finish up this essay I’ve got due tomorrow. But…” Nathan glances over at the other side of the room. “Tell Amanda thanks for the invite. It’s been… fun.”_

_I smile back at him._

_“Well, thanks for putting up with us nerds anyway!”_

_“No problem. Thanks for putting up with a loser like me!”_

_And with that he left. I stayed for another hour or so but decided to leave when James and the others started talking about going out into town. I was pretty tired after staying up late watching Lord of the Rings with Nathan so I kissed Amanda goodbye and headed back to the dorms._

_When I entered the room, I found Nathan sitting on the carpet, legs hugged against his chest, staring down at his mobile like it had grown toes or something. I frown at him._

_“You alright?”_

_Nathan looks up at me, his face pale._

_“I… called him. I called my grandad.”_

_“Damn, is that it? I thought someone might’ve died the way you’re acting…” I see the look on his face. “Did he… was he being an asshole or something?”_

_Nathan pauses, his eyebrows furrowed together._

_“He was… pleased to hear from me and… asked me to come over this weekend.”_

_“Yeah?” I sit down next to him, my back propped against the bed. “So… are you going to see him this weekend?”_

_“Well… I mean I did say yes, so I guess I should. But…”_

_“But…?”_

_Nathan groans loudly, rubbing his knuckles against his temples._

_“But… I really don’t know if I should. What if it’s awful? What if dad finds out I went there? He’d kill me…”_

_My mind races, as I try to think of something to say that might calm his nerves a little, but I draw a blank. Nathan sighs._

_“Maybe… I could text him tomorrow, pretend some plans came up and I can’t make it…”_

_“What if I went with you?”_

_I say it without thinking, but at least I get Nathan’s attention._

_“If you went with… why? What would that do?”_

_I shrug._

_“I dunno, maybe having someone with you might make things easier? At the very least, I could make sure you don’t chicken out of it.”_

_Nathan turns his mobile around in his hand as he seems to consider my offer. A selfish part of my mind hopes he’ll dismiss my offer, since I’m not exactly keen on meeting other people’s relatives at the best of times and if Nathan’s grandad was anything like Sean Prescott, well… let’s just say, it wouldn’t be a fun time._

_Nathan looks at me and nods._

_“Okay. But… feel free to leave at any point, I won’t blame you.”_

_“So what you’re saying is…” I put my hand out. “Deal?”_

_Nathan rolls his eyes but takes my hand anyway._

_“Deal…”_

Warren blinks as the sunlight dazzles him. Shading his eyes, he looks out the window and tries to gauge where exactly in Arcadia they were. It looked like they were heading up the steep hill towards the cliff face, not far from the light house. But the only house near there was…

“How you feeling now? Still dizzy?”

“Huh? Oh, uhhh… I feel a lot better now actually, thanks.”

It wasn’t even a lie really. While Warren was still drowsy as hell, the pain forming around his temples had faded and he could now sit up comfortably without feeling the need to bring up his lunch. Warren glances up at the windshield, and tries to slyly get some information out of Nathan:

“So… it’s been a while since I’ve been to Marie’s place…”

Nathan raises an eyebrow at him.

“Marie’s place? Well, I guess it kind of is for now until she moves. I still think of it as Douglas’s house, but I guess we’ll all have to start calling it Dad’s fifth holiday home, if he gets his way…”

So, Sean Prescott wanted the house they were going to? In that case, it must be the place he was thinking of. That huge, old mansion that sat at the top of the cliff overlooking Arcadia Bay, slightly weathered by the decades of harsh weather but still impressive nonetheless. Exactly the kind of place that would be associated with the Prescott family…

As they rounded the corner, the house came into view. Warren had never been this up close to it, having only ever seen it from a distance. Surrounded by a small yard, the place towered over the flat landscape, the only structure for what looked like miles around. Clearly an early twentieth-century build, it’s bright white walls shone like a beacon, a light house in its own right. Warren couldn’t help thinking that the place almost looked like it was… leaning? Granted, the place was still quite a way from the cliff edge but it still put him on edge, like the place might just collapse on top of them as Nathan parked his car into the spacious driveway.

As Warren followed Nathan through the front gate, he glanced around the garden, noting the sheer number of rose bushes. It was very pretty, though they looked like they hadn’t been tended in a while and the dark red colour of some petals brought back uneasy memories.

Shaking himself, Warren hurried towards Nathan who was ringing the doorbell. Hands in his pockets, Nathan whispered something to Warren, glancing nervously at the large wooden door:

“Maybe… don’t mention what happened back at the diner. She’s had enough to worry about recently…”

Before Warren can say anything in reply, the door opens…

_“So… how much further?”_

_“We’re five minutes away. Promise.”_

_“I thought you said it wouldn’t take that long to walk it from the bus stop…”_

_“A half hour walk isn’t that long. Come on!”_

_I groan and push myself up the hill a little further, cursing at myself for being so unfit. When Nathan had said the house was just above the lighthouse, it was me that had suggested we take the bus up to the outskirts of Arcadia Bay and walk it from there. I was definitely regretting that now…_

_Nathan was a surprisingly fast walker considering his size and his performance in gym class, being one of the few people who was slower than me in cross-country. But walking up the hill, he was surprising nimble, almost like he’d been a mountain goat in another lifetime._

_Maybe walking around Arcadia Bay at night taking pictures of foxes was surprisingly good exercise…_

_“How’d you know where this place was anyway? It’s pretty isolated out here…”_

_“I’ve been out here before. I’ve never been inside the house but I’ve taken a picture of it before…” Nathan glances behind him. “It was actually that picture you were trying to peep at the first day we met…”_

_“What, the Scooby Doo house?”, I say surprised, remembering our less than pleasant first encounter._

_“It’s a lot less creepy when it’s not in black and white… there it is now actually!”_

_Raising my sweat red face, I look up and see what he’s pointing at. I whistle._

_“Damn… I knew it was going to be big, but I wasn’t expecting a mansion…”_

_“Yeah… Dad was pretty pissed when grandad wouldn’t give it up. I can’t see the appeal honestly, a house that tall is not well designed for the kind of winds you get up here…”_

_As we get nearer to the house, I notice Nathan’s pace seems to slow until it’s now me who is walking in front. By the time we get to the gate, he stops completely, biting down on his lip nervously and looking desperately back down the hill. I raise my eyebrows at him, gesturing for him to get a move on but his feet remain planted._

_“Warren… maybe this was a bad idea. I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t have dragged you all the way out here but I don’t think I can…”_

_“Nathan.” I say firmly, grabbing him by the shoulder and pushing him forward. “We talked about this. We just go in and say hi, and if things start going downhill, we make an excuse about homework and leave. You have nothing to worry about, okay?”_

_Nathan just continues to chew on his bottom lip so  just sigh and press the down on the doorbell. I hear a loud gong-like sound coming from within and as I wait with Nathan, I feel some of my own nerves brewing in my stomach, but I try not to let them show, for Nathan’s sake._

_I hear a clicking sound on the other side of the door and it soon swings open._

_I try not to gape as a gorgeous, red-headed woman smiles at me, her bright green eyes sparkling._

_She holds her hand out to Nathan who I need to subtly poke since he too is in shock. He holds his hand out limply and she takes it, shaking it firmly as she introduces herself:_

_“Hello, lovely to meet you, I’m Douglas’s wife, call me Marie, are you hungry? Wait you two didn’t walk out here, did you? I’d’ve been fine collecting you both from school, you must be Nathan, you look a lot like Douglas, he’ll be here any minute, he got into a bit of traffic, please come in…”_

_I just continue to stare at her as she babbles, trying to remember the last time I saw a woman this beautiful._

She’s a bit older now, a few more lines around her eyes, her face bare from any makeup. She gives Warren and Nathan a warm smile, but Warren couldn’t help thinking it looked a little more pained than the one in his memories. She wears a loose top and baggy trousers and her hair is in a slightly matted ponytail, like she’d only just woken up.

That didn't hide fact she was still incredibly beautiful…

Pushing her hair out of her eyes, she smiles a little wider and gestures for them to come inside.

“Hey boys, it’s good to see you both again…”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Sorry this is a short chapter but I've been away this week and I've got work coming up again. I really appreciate all the nice comments I've been getting and if people are still interested in me continuing the story, I'll upload on a weekly basis (I think that'll be manageable for me!)
> 
> Thanks again and happy reading and writing!


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